OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions

In 1955, after the death of one of their agents, Jack Jefferson (Lefebvre), the French government sends agent OSS 117 (Dujardin), Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, to take his place undercover in Egypt.  OSS 117 does not know the language or culture, but takes up a position as head of a poultry company.  With his assistant Larmina El Akmar Betouche (Bejo), can OSS 117 discover the truth and save the day, or will his actions lead to an international conflict?

In 1949, French author Jean Bruce created the OSS 117 series.  The series took off and became a film and TV series in the 1950s-1970s.  When director Michel Hazanavicius decided to make an OSS 117 film, he chose to take a different approach... loving lampooning the series and other spy series, like James Bond.

While I was waiting for The Artist to come to Netflix, I discovered that director Hazanavicius and stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo worked together in this film.  It looked interesting, so I decided to check it out.  I have to ask, is there anything Dujardin can't do?  The man was incredible as a silent star, and proves he can do action and comedy as well.

It is possible to come into the film without any knowledge of the series, and I am curious if the same is true for Hazanavicius' sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio.  It might help to understand the OSS 117 series and regular players, etc... think of it like watching a James Bond film: you know he will ask for a martini in certain way, get gadgets from Q, etc.  The humor is broad enough that it works... and Dujardin seems game for whatever the writers throw at him (see the scene where he joins a band).  The rest of the cast is good, but Dujardin really shines here.  Looking forward to watching the sequel.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies [OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions] (2006) 99 minutes
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin as Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, alias OSS 117
Berenice Bejo as Larmina El Akmar Betouche
Aure Atika as Princess Al Tarouk
Philippe Lefebvre as Jack Jefferson