Film

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2007)

Director: Michel Hazanavicius

Movie review

From Time Out New York

It’s a daring move to import a French hit comedy to the U.S. On the one hand, the 1955-set OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is stylishly art-directed, slyly subversive and actually very funny; on the other, some of the humor requires a passing familiarity with 1950s Gallic politics to be fully effective. Fortunately, this spy-movie spoof hits a high number of targets even if you’ve never heard of René Coty.

The breathless plot follows the Egyptian adventures of Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath (Dujardin), code name OSS 117. Doltish, ignorant and culturally insensitive (he fulminates at a muezzin whose amplified call wakes him up early), this elite member of the French secret service is particularly well qualified to help pacify unrest in Cairo. Indeed, in 1955 that city is a hotbed of international espionage and nascent Muslim activism—and hosts at least two babes (Bejo, Atika) with a taste for sexy, cretinous French manhood. It’s a major miracle that Dujardin’s character, constantly teetering between colonialist narcissism and doofus abandon, manages to be so endearing—and, with the benefit of hindsight, ominous. Trust the French to make a comedy seemingly drawing from both Jerry Lewis and Edward Said.