Amid the avalanche of overproduced, overmarketed summer films flooding the local cineplexes is a retro import that flew in under the radar and is delighting any moviegoer willing to give in to its droll Gallic humor and fond appreciation of the spy thriller genre of the sixties. OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES was a huge boxoffice hit in France (and Europe) in 2006 and is just making it to these shores now but you’d better hurry and see it fast because it doesn’t have Indiana Jones’ legs or Iron Man’s robust constitution.

Based on a series of popular 0SS 117 novels penned by French writer Jean Bruce before Ian Fleming’s James Bond series appeared in print, OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES is a complete spoof of the franchise and its super cool, macho hero, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, who is depicted here as insensitive, arrogant, racist, jingoistic, infantile and cruel to chickens. Jean Dujardin with his dapper demeanor and stolid appearance completely inhabits the part, creating the most beautifully sustained comic performance since Ryan Gosling’s unpredictable balancing act in Lars and the Real Girl. There are certain aspects of Dujardin’s creation that may remind you of Don Adams’ secret agent Maxwell Smart from the TV series “Get Smart” (the remake with Steve Carell is slated to open on June 20^th) or even Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau. But very little about Dujardin’s performance or director Michel Hazanavicius’s comedic approach will remind you of the Austin Powers films and that’s a good thing.

Scatological, gross-out humor and raunchy sex jokes are not part of the mix here. Instead, 0SS 117’s colonialist attitude and clueless behavior about the Muslim culture he has entered draw the biggest laughs, with many of the jokes delivered like little blackout sketches that have an odd, delayed effect. You’ll suddenly find yourself chuckling minutes later after witnessing some bit of foolishness or absurdity….and long to see it again a la instant replay. In one sequence, OSS 117 is awakened by the muezzin’s call to prayer that reverberates throughout Cairo as it does in most Muslin countries (the movie was actually filmed in Casablanca, Morocco). Outraged, he climbs the nearby tower and berates the holy man for rudely interrupting his sleep and proceeds to broadcast his annoyance to the city over the tower’s loudspeaker. In another scene, he tells an Egyptian government worker, ““It’s 1955! You’ve got donkeys in the streets, men wearing jellabas, writing nobody can read. Time to grow up!”  He tells another, “Yours is a strange religion. You’ll grow tired of it.” Somehow Dujardin turns this insufferable creature into a lovable idiot. 

And then there’s his perverse side. In one sequence that takes place in a warehouse filled with roosting chickens, he discovers that manipulating the lights can fool the birds into thinking it’s dawn with the expected cacophony. His childlike, slightly sadistic obsession with this becomes a hilarious visual gag that is repeated throughout the film. The most memorable chicken scene though is the outrageous fight sequence where OSS 117 and an assassin try to kill each other by using chickens as lethal flying projectiles. It really is very sick and I’m sure I’ll go to hell for laughing so hard. Is the French film industry monitored by the ASPCA? Apparently not or perhaps the filmmakers found some excellent stunt chickens.

OSS 117 also fancies himself as a debonair ladies’ man and for a brief moment he acts the part in one scene as the camera pulls away discreetly from showing one of his triumphant seductions. But then you see his tuxedoed frame in a mirror reflection, frantically dry humping his conquest on the bed. Very classy! The real romantic stuff is saved for the homoerotic flashbacks when La Bath recalls his close fellow agent Jack Jefferson (Philippe Lefebvre).  James Bond would be deeply embarrassed. (Watch the clip on Youtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOu38gIqTvg)

 The only time our hero looks genuinely aroused by the two gorgeous leading ladies – Berenice Bejo and Aure Atika – is when the two women are engaged in an over-the-top catfight on a fishing pier and he does nothing to stop them as they rip each other’s clothes off. Ooo-la-la!

 Just when you think OSS 117 has no redeeming features though, he’ll surprise you, revealing some hidden talent like appearing in disguise as an Egyptian musician and performing an impromptu solo in front of a nightclub crowd that goes crazy for him. His performance of “Bambino” (originally written in 1955) with its exotic Middle Eastern orchestration is the perfect music video and is already up on Youtube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYxPpx1yCY4.

In fact, the film’s score is composed of selections by the late Michel Magne (he committed suicide in 1984) who wrote the music for some of the original OSS 117 movies and other espionage thrillers. CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES also features stunning art direction by Maamar Ech-Cheikn, which won a Cesar award, and includes one fantastic underwater sequence with Dujardin performing a Houdini stunt amid a graveyard of skeletons.

Now that I’ve seen OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES, I’m curious about the real McCoy and the many novels and film versions spawned by Jean Bruce, who authored 91 books on his own. After his death from a car accident in 1963, his wife Josette wrote another 143 OSS 117 novels!

 

 

 

 

According to Wikipedia, the first film version was OSS 117 N’est Pas Mort in 1957 starring Ivan Desnay. Many more movie adaptations followed with OSS 117 being portrayed by such actors as Frederick Stafford, Kerwin Mathews, Luc Merenda and Alan Scott. Most Eurotrash spy thriller experts tend to agree that OSS 117 MISSION FOR A KILLER (1965) is one of the best.

But if you’re looking for something sublimely silly, I recommend OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES. Either you’ll fall under its looney spell or you’ll sit stone-faced in front of it, never cracking a smile. It might depend on your mood when you see it or whether you can ever get over your low opinion of French film comedies. I admit I fall into the latter category but this one cracked me up.