I bet that no review of "OSS 117: Nest of Spies" started without mentioning that its hero, Secret Agent Hubert Bonasseur de la Bath, was created by French writer Jean Bruce in 1949, which means four years before Ian Fleming wrote the first 'James Bond' novel. Yes indeed, codename 117 was a precursor while 007 became the icon. This is vital information as it prevents the viewer from identifying OSS 117 only as the French answer to James Bond, or worse, to Austin Powers.
The two agents were created in the most politically and diplomatically tormented era of the 20th Century and spy stories were the premises of great adventures inspired from real-life events. And movies like "Top Secret!" and Austin Powers mocked all the James Bond and spy archetypes with such a delightful zaniness that the premise of "OSS 117" might have seemed preposterous. In fact, it's genius. By using the same visual format than 60's adventure movies, from the classic Gaumont logo opening (a bit reminding me of the use of the 20's Universal logo for "The Sting") and by turning them into a parody, Michel Hazanivicius removes the dust from French cinema's forgotten gems and gives the perfect alibi so a 2000's audience can laugh with the film, but not at the film.
That this audience never read any of the 265 OSS novels, that everyone still believes James Bond was the first, is besides the point, if anything, with this film, they'll make a great discovery. But they're going to be mislead too, as the original novels weren't comedies, they were actually in the same vein than James Bond (which, to a certain degree, isn't supposed to always be taken seriously) and the original agent was actually American, from Louisiana, hence his name with French consonance. Hazanavicius adapts the film into a comedy and makes the hero a French version of James Bond, two inspired choices culminating with the casting of Jean Dujardin, who can abandon his surfing suit and blonde wig from his hit sketch "Brice de Nice" and proves his acting skills with the one character that was begging to be played by Dujardin.
That was before "The Artist" when only French audience knew that Dujardin was the most American-looking Frenchie, with his wide charming smile à la Gene Kelly (he's actually more handsome than him) and his forehead that recalls a young Sean Connery, and a little Errol Flynn touch, Dujardin had the looks, but not just the looks. 117 is a dim-witted, overly-patriotic agent who believes that President René Coty will belong to history. That the foreign audience (and also French) is oblivious to the identity of Coty is already the proof that the gag works; it also outdates the character, setting him in the time of the fourth Republic (before De Gaulle) where France was losing the colonies and all its prestige. Only Dujardin could pull such an anachronistic performance, of a character already comically anachronistic within the film's plot.
The plot is centered on 1956's Suez crisis, and while the real players were USA and USSR, 117 is so convinced of France's importance, that any information or attitude contradicting his certitudes is welcomed by a laugh of disbelief. And I think Dujardin is the only actor who can display such a wide range of smiles, just with the way he extends his mouth or plays with his eyes, it can mean nervousness, confidence, arrogance, joy, irony and so forth. Only Dujardin can look so goofy and charismatic in the same time. And speaking of goofiness, the film doesn't spare any cliché: the low-budget special effects always symbolized by the obvious plane model 'flying' in the sky, the over the top fight that destroy all the furniture without messing the hero's hairstyle, the charm with women and the lousy covers: he's the owner of a chicken farm, which preludes the film's most hilarious running-gag, in fact, all the other spies are farm owners: each one for a different breed.
And then, when 117 meets the other countries' agents, it's a moment of pure brilliance as they all start delivering off-topic philosophical quotes, for no particular reason, other than trying to outsmart each other, it's a brilliant moment of pure non-sequitur enjoyment. also love the interaction between Dujardin and the Arab population, underlining the eternal cultural shift between Europe and the Third World, his altercation with a muezzin, his patronizing tone while giving a worker the card of René Coty (as if it meant something), his non-politically correct comments, it's very cruel, but the joke is on him and it's funny, and he kind of redeems himself when he starts singing "Bambino" in Arabic, an unpredictable moment that drew a big smile in my face. Of course, being a Moroccan, I wasn't fooled by the real Cairo and the people's pure Moroccan accent, but who can't tell whether it's intentional or not. Either ways, it works.
Of course, the gags don't work the same, but you spend a great moment, entertained by Dujardin's antics, and also the great performance of Bérénice Béjo, who handles her role with a natural simplicity, seductive and sexy without trying to emulate a James Bond girl. And we all know where this is coming to: if it wasn't for Hazanivicus' nostalgic trip into the 50's, with the charm of Dujardin and Béjo, we wouldn't have a movie like "The Artist" that earned Dujardin his Oscar nomination.
I welcomed "The Artist" with enthusiasm, and later on, I was wondering if it wasn't just a way to kiss Hollywood's butt, so to speak. Well I apologize for this thought, because Hazanivicus actually restored French cinema with this hilarious nest of spies, made an American character 100% French (before doing the opposite) and he established Dujardin as the successor of many American entertainers and French too, as he's the closest actor to Belmondo charisma-wise.
The two agents were created in the most politically and diplomatically tormented era of the 20th Century and spy stories were the premises of great adventures inspired from real-life events. And movies like "Top Secret!" and Austin Powers mocked all the James Bond and spy archetypes with such a delightful zaniness that the premise of "OSS 117" might have seemed preposterous. In fact, it's genius. By using the same visual format than 60's adventure movies, from the classic Gaumont logo opening (a bit reminding me of the use of the 20's Universal logo for "The Sting") and by turning them into a parody, Michel Hazanivicius removes the dust from French cinema's forgotten gems and gives the perfect alibi so a 2000's audience can laugh with the film, but not at the film.
That this audience never read any of the 265 OSS novels, that everyone still believes James Bond was the first, is besides the point, if anything, with this film, they'll make a great discovery. But they're going to be mislead too, as the original novels weren't comedies, they were actually in the same vein than James Bond (which, to a certain degree, isn't supposed to always be taken seriously) and the original agent was actually American, from Louisiana, hence his name with French consonance. Hazanavicius adapts the film into a comedy and makes the hero a French version of James Bond, two inspired choices culminating with the casting of Jean Dujardin, who can abandon his surfing suit and blonde wig from his hit sketch "Brice de Nice" and proves his acting skills with the one character that was begging to be played by Dujardin.
That was before "The Artist" when only French audience knew that Dujardin was the most American-looking Frenchie, with his wide charming smile à la Gene Kelly (he's actually more handsome than him) and his forehead that recalls a young Sean Connery, and a little Errol Flynn touch, Dujardin had the looks, but not just the looks. 117 is a dim-witted, overly-patriotic agent who believes that President René Coty will belong to history. That the foreign audience (and also French) is oblivious to the identity of Coty is already the proof that the gag works; it also outdates the character, setting him in the time of the fourth Republic (before De Gaulle) where France was losing the colonies and all its prestige. Only Dujardin could pull such an anachronistic performance, of a character already comically anachronistic within the film's plot.
The plot is centered on 1956's Suez crisis, and while the real players were USA and USSR, 117 is so convinced of France's importance, that any information or attitude contradicting his certitudes is welcomed by a laugh of disbelief. And I think Dujardin is the only actor who can display such a wide range of smiles, just with the way he extends his mouth or plays with his eyes, it can mean nervousness, confidence, arrogance, joy, irony and so forth. Only Dujardin can look so goofy and charismatic in the same time. And speaking of goofiness, the film doesn't spare any cliché: the low-budget special effects always symbolized by the obvious plane model 'flying' in the sky, the over the top fight that destroy all the furniture without messing the hero's hairstyle, the charm with women and the lousy covers: he's the owner of a chicken farm, which preludes the film's most hilarious running-gag, in fact, all the other spies are farm owners: each one for a different breed.
And then, when 117 meets the other countries' agents, it's a moment of pure brilliance as they all start delivering off-topic philosophical quotes, for no particular reason, other than trying to outsmart each other, it's a brilliant moment of pure non-sequitur enjoyment. also love the interaction between Dujardin and the Arab population, underlining the eternal cultural shift between Europe and the Third World, his altercation with a muezzin, his patronizing tone while giving a worker the card of René Coty (as if it meant something), his non-politically correct comments, it's very cruel, but the joke is on him and it's funny, and he kind of redeems himself when he starts singing "Bambino" in Arabic, an unpredictable moment that drew a big smile in my face. Of course, being a Moroccan, I wasn't fooled by the real Cairo and the people's pure Moroccan accent, but who can't tell whether it's intentional or not. Either ways, it works.
Of course, the gags don't work the same, but you spend a great moment, entertained by Dujardin's antics, and also the great performance of Bérénice Béjo, who handles her role with a natural simplicity, seductive and sexy without trying to emulate a James Bond girl. And we all know where this is coming to: if it wasn't for Hazanivicus' nostalgic trip into the 50's, with the charm of Dujardin and Béjo, we wouldn't have a movie like "The Artist" that earned Dujardin his Oscar nomination.
I welcomed "The Artist" with enthusiasm, and later on, I was wondering if it wasn't just a way to kiss Hollywood's butt, so to speak. Well I apologize for this thought, because Hazanivicus actually restored French cinema with this hilarious nest of spies, made an American character 100% French (before doing the opposite) and he established Dujardin as the successor of many American entertainers and French too, as he's the closest actor to Belmondo charisma-wise.