OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006) on Netflix
NR20061h 39mActionAdventureComedy
In 1955, French agent Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, known as OSS 117, is sent to Cairo to look into the disappearance of his friend Jack Jefferson. Larmina becomes his contact.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.0/1025,617 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes77%
Trailer
Plot summary
Relations between Nasser's Egypt and France are tense in 1955 when Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, an operative known as OSS 117, reaches Cairo. His superiors send him to find out what became of Jack Jefferson, a fellow agent and his closest friend, and to trace a cargo ship's missing load of weapons. His cover is a chicken farm, and Larmina becomes his contact; she is an operative who once worked with Jack. At an embassy party she introduces him to the livestock traders Moeller, Pelletier and Setine. A British spy tries to give him information about Jack, and a hooded figure kills the man before Hubert can catch him. At night a muezzin's call to prayer keeps waking Hubert, who climbs the tower to complain.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Michel Hazanavicius first wanted Jean-Paul Belmondo to play Armand Lesignac in the film, but the role ended up going to Claude Brosset.
- In Jean Bruce's novels the character OSS 117 was an American officer of French descent who worked for the OSS and then the CIA; the film reimagines him as a French spy for the SDECE.
- For its 1960s pastiche the driving scenes were all shot with obvious rear projection, and night scenes were clearly filmed during the day with a blue filter, while the camera movements stayed deliberately simple.
- Jean Bruce's original OSS 117 starred in more than 265 novels and seven films through 1970, all of them straight spy thrillers before this film turned the character into a parody.
- The film is set in Cairo but the Cairo airport scene was shot in the entrance hall of a Panthéon-Assas University campus.
