OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)

Secret agent OSS 117 foils Nazis, beds local beauties, and brings peace to the Middle East.

Director:

Michel Hazanavicius

Writers:

Jean-François Halin (scenario), Jean Bruce (novel)

Stars:

Jean Dujardin, François Damiens, Khalid Maadour

4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Dujardin	...	Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, alias OSS 117
François Damiens	...	Raymond Pelletier
Khalid Maadour	...	Le suiveur
Youssef Hamid	...	L'imam
Arsène Mosca	...	Loktar
Constantin Alexandrov	...	Setine
Claude Brosset	...	Le patron
Laurent Bateau	...	Gardenborough
Saïd Amadis	...	Le ministre égyptien
Eric Prat	...	Plantieux
Abdellah Moundy	...	Slimane (as Abdallah Moundy)
Philippe Lefebvre	...	Jack Jefferson
Richard Sammel	...	Moeller
Aure Atika	...	La princesse Al Tarouk
Bérénice Bejo	...	Larmina El Akmar Betouche

Storyline

An homage to classic spy films. It's 1955 and after a fellow agent and close friend disappears, secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a.k.a. OSS 117, is ordered to take his place at the head of a poultry firm in Cairo. This is to be his cover while he is busy investigating, foiling Nazi holdouts, quelling a fundamentalist rebellion, and bedding local beauties.

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Plot Keywords:

friend | spy | bound and gagged | arms tied overhead | lingerie slip | 

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Taglines:

The Prride of French Intelligence

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the DVD extras, Michel Hazanavicius wanted the film to have a 1950s look and feel; when they could, the crew used vintage equipment and film. Camera techniques were limited to the type of shots commonly used in the 50s, and special effects were filmed similarly (rear projection roads for driving scenes, not-well-rendered model airplane, etc.).

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Goofs

OSS 117 flies to Cairo in 1955 with a Caravelle, which entered service only in 1959.

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Quotes

Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, alias OSS 117: And I know who you are. You're not a Lebanese reporter based in Rome, but the niece of Egypt's King Farouk.
La princesse Al Tarouk: I'm his niece, but he's no longer king. He was exiled three years ago by the vile Nasser, may the maggot rot in hell!
Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, alias OSS 117: You're pretty vulgar for a pharoah's niece.
La princesse Al Tarouk: My uncle is king. The pharoahs ruled 4000 years ago.

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Connections

References Dr. No (1962)

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Soundtracks

Bambino
(Guaglione)
Music by Giuseppe Fanciulli
Italian lyrics by Nicola Salerno
French lyrics by Jacques Larue
Performed by Jean Dujardin

User Reviews

Smart, snappy, hilarious, stylish--don't miss this James Bond spoof

OSS: 117 (2006)

I wish for a couple hours I was French, because I'm sure there were twice as many gags as I could get as an American reading subtitles. Even so, what a funny funny movie. It's not quite as zany as a spoof like "Airplane" (nor quite as funny, which of course is hard to do), but it takes the Sean Connery vintage James Bond film model and really does a parody worthy of 007. And of the franchise, which of course is bigger than Bond, bigger than Ian Fleming could have ever dreamed.

But hold your horses--this is a parody of the real OSS:117. Yes, a French author created a Bond-like spy in the 1950s, and this movie and its 2009 sequel are really playing a double-edged game. They bring the old French spy to life (the original was a French-speaking American, bizarrely enough), and they make fun of him, of Bond, and of 1960s super slick sexist movies all around.

The star here, the Sean Connery of this spoof (he even looks a bit like the Scottish actor), is Jean Dujardin. He's brilliant. He's funny, campy, silly, serious, and subtle about it all. He plays the role with a kind of oblivious self-ridicule that Woody Allen and Peter Sellers were so good at. It's great stuff.

And he's backed up by a strong, if somewhat predictable, assortment of international thugs, beauties, and oddballs. There are shades of "Charade" here as well as the original "Pink Panther" movies. The scoring is amazing, composed with that Henry Mancini flair to a T and recorded with the familiar bright, echoey sound studio fullness of the time. Equally authentic are the opening credits, which were so convincing I had to double check when the movie came out. I was thinking, wow, a lost 1960s gem.

But it's a brand new gem, or almost gem. Time will tell if this will hold up over the years, but it's a kind of must-see now for anyone into Bond films, the 60s, French humor, or just a well made movie with lots of gags. Like the gag where the noisy chickens go silent when the lights go off, and so our hero delights in turning the lights on, and off, and on, and off. Just wait and listen. It'll slay you.

Details

Official Sites:

Music Box Films [United States] Official site [France]

Country:

France

Language:

French Arabic German

Release Date:

9 May 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

Filming Locations:

Devant la mairie, avenue Mohamed VI, El Djadida, Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

EUR14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$31,418, 11 May 2008

Gross USA:

$303,543

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$23,041,621

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gaumont, Mandarin Films, M6 Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1