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| OSS 117: Lost in Rio | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| French | OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus |
| Directed by | Michel Hazanavicius |
| Written by |
|
| Based on | OSS 117 character byJean Bruce |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Guillaume Schiffman |
| Edited by | Reynald Bertrand |
| Music by | Ludovic Bource |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Gaumont |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | €23.4 million[1] ($26.8 million) |
| Box office | $21.9 million[2] |
OSS 117: Lost in Rio (French:OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus) is a 2009 Frenchspycomedy film co-written and directed byMichel Hazanavicius. It is a sequel to Hazanavicius'OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006), and seesJean Dujardin reprising his role as French secret agentHubert Bonisseur de La Bath / OSS 117. Set in 1967,Lost in Rio sees OSS 117 sent to Brazil in order to retrieve a microfilm list of FrenchNazi sympathizers, only to once again unknowingly set foot into a bigger international intrigue.
Like the first film,Lost in Rio is based on the OSS 117 character from the novels byJean Bruce, but acts as a parody rather than a faithful adaptation. The original title literally translates toOSS 117: Rio Doesn't Respond Anymore, a reference to the 1932 filmF.P.1 Doesn't Respond.Lost in Rio received praise for its direction, humour, dialogues and performances. A sequel,OSS 117: From Africa with Love, directed byNicolas Bedos, was released in 2021.
The film opens with a ski chalet party sequence inGstaad whereHubert Bonisseur de La Bath akaOSS 117 is entertaining a Chinese countess. The party is attacked byRed Chinese gunmen working for a Mr. Lee and everyone but Hubert and the Countess are killed, with Hubert comically killing some of his own guests by accident. Returning toSDECE headquarters, Hubert is assigned to deliver a blackmail payment of 50,000 new Francs to Professor Von Zimmel, a Nazi who escaped to South America and has a microfilm list of FrenchNazi sympathizers.
Once in Rio, Hubert is attacked at various times by relatives of Mr. Lee's gunmen, encounters a foul-mouthed AmericanFelix Leiter-typeCIA agent Bill Tremendous, thefemme fatale Carlotta, Professor Von Zimmel'sluchador enforcers and eventuallyMossad agents intent on bringing Professor Von Zimmel back to Israel for trial. OSS 117 teams up with Dolorès Koulechov, a beautifulIsraeli Army Colonel to bring Von Zimmel to Israel in the manner ofAdolf Eichmann. Their lead to Von Zimmel is his son who is now ahippie.
Throughout the film the main character has two main romantic interests. The first is a mysterious beauty Carlotta (Reem Kherici). The second is Israeli Army officer, Dolorès Koulechov, who spends most of the film exasperated at OSS 117'smisogynistic,racist, colonial tendencies and has no interest in the main character, but warms up to him in the end. When asked by de La Bath why Koulechov does not like the dictatorialBrazilian military government of the time, she lists its examples oftotalitarianism that the puzzled de La Bath finds the same as the France ofCharles de Gaulle.
Throughout the film, de La Bath is forced to engage withhippies, exploration ofsexuality,gender roles in differentbelief systems, and his personal convictions about society and prejudice.
The film is a sequel to the originalOSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies released in 2006. It attracted 260,000 viewers more than the opening of OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. The only returning character is Lesignac, de La Bath's superior. In the first movie Lesignac was played by Claude Brosset, due to his death, the character was played by Pierre Bellemare. Michael Hazanavicius suggestedJacques Chirac for playing Armand Lesignac, but he rejected it.[3]
The film is a continuation of theOSS 117 series ofEurospy films from the 1950s and 1960s, which were in turn based on a series of novels byJean Bruce, a prolific French popular writer. The main character in the OSS 117 series is a secret agent of the SDECE,Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, also known by his code name OSS 117. The character is played byJean Dujardin.
The films parodies the originalAndré Hunebelle OSS 117 series and other conventional spy andEurospy films such asSe Tutte le Donne del Mondo with its sequence on top of theChrist the Redeemer statue, and most noticeably the earlyJames Bond series right down to the cinematography, art direction and costumes of the 1960s–1970s. For example, driving scenes are all filmed with obviousrear projection and camera movements are simple, and avoid the three-dimensionalSteadicam and crane movements that are easily accomplished today. As well, the then popular innovationmulti-dynamic image technique displaying several panes with partial and full repetition of images is employed (in the introductory scene with Dolorès Koulechov). The film also parodiesAlfred Hitchcock'sVertigo andNorth by Northwest with de La Bath's clothing inspired byHarper and the set furniture inspired by Dean Martin'sMatt Helm films.[4]
The film opens and closes withDean Martin songs and reuses footage fromThe Greatest Show on Earth (1952) andFuria à Bahia pour OSS 117 (OSS 117: Mission for a Killer) (1965) and "Fun in Acapulco" (1963).
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on reviews from 52 critics. The site's critical consensus reads "Led by another appealing performance from Jean Dujardin, this sequel offers more absurdly fun action -- and more politically incorrect humor -- for fans of '60s spy films."[5] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 58 out of 100, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".[6]
