OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (in English: OSS 117: Lost in Rio) is a funny French comedy that’s doing well at the box office, buoyed by favorable reviews and word-of-mouth. It’s a fun movie.

OSS 117 is the code name of a French
secret agent, Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. He stars in a long-running espionage thriller series penned in
the postwar years (starting in 1949, before Ian Fleming introduced
James Bond). I’ve never read an OSS 117 book, widely considered as
suitable reading for a train trip or a beach vacation. In the 1960s,
some of the OSS 117 stories were brought to the screen by director
André Hunebelle.

Forty years later, the OSS 117 franchise returned to the screen, in OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d’espions (English title: OSS 177: Cairo, nest of spies). This picture (re)introduced moviegoers to OSS 117, and was a star vehicle for Jean Dujardin, who’d become widely known through a TV series. I found OSS 117: Cairo, nest of spies overlong, and thought it could have benefited from additional editing. For this viewer, the follow-up picture, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, is funnier and can be viewed without having first seen the Cairo picture.

Those who’ve seen both Ocean’s Eleven (2001, starring Clooney) and Ocean’s Eleven (1960, starring Sinatra) will understand the mood of OSS 117: Lost in Rio. The picture takes for granted that the viewer has already seen James Bond, and Austin Powers; there’s no need to explain the set-up or convention of the spy genre.

As secret agent Hubert, actor Dujardin plays a spoof with a straight face. It’s reto-humor. The picture is set in 1967, and plays up historical particularities of the late Gaullist period in France. Dujardin’s Hubert is full of himself, and incompetent. Hubert suffers from: colonialism, racism, sexism, anti-semitism, homophobia, chauvinism (he doesn’t understand a word of English, including profane insults) and conservatism (he hates hippies). But the picture makes fun of these flaws, viewed at forty years’ remove. The story has only slight importance: it involves a hunt for a Nazi.

OSS 117: Lost in Rio has fabulous atmospherics. The locations are shot in an unusual color palette (bright colors, but faded or sepia-toned). The costumes and décor elements delight the eye.

I hope OSS 117: Lost in Rio overcomes language barriers and finds an audience beyond France. Here’s the trailer (in French):