(ANSA) - CANNES, 17 JUL - It would have been ideal to present Jean Dujardin's new comic-spy adventure (OSS 117: ALERTE ROUGE EN AFRIQUE NOIRE) on 14 July, in the midst of the French grandeur.
But even a festival has its own logic and a comedy made for laughs couldn't find a place other than the last mile of the marathon for cinephiles.
And so Cannescala the curtain winking at its national audience.
The direction is entrusted, after two episodes signed by MichelHazanavicius, to a festival author like Nicolas Bedos, who was very much applauded two years ago for "Belle epoque". Bedos has had the sensibility not to stray too far from the original model, making Jean Dujardin a Belmondo of the 2000s, self-deprecating enough and capable of exploiting his international popularity, so much so that the title for American distribution will be "From Africa With Love" (in Italy 'Special Agent 117 at the service of the Republic - Red alarm in black Africa', with I Wonder). An explicit homage to the James Bond first fashion saga.
Dujardin vs Connery? Somehow yes, so much so that the temporal location of the mission impossible of OSS 117, alias Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, is located in Kenya in 1981, when the continent is prey to new nationalistic ferments and the "whites" are seen as smoking in the eyes, while they still believe they are heirs of the colonialism of yesteryear. To update the script, Bedos joins his swashbuckling hero with a freshman just promoted with the theme song OSS 1001 (the actor is called Pierre Niney and is an unpretentious blonde called to repair the damage of the old legend who believes himself to be the best secret agent in the world).
The rest of the script unfolds without any particular surprises.
OSS 117 lands in Africa as a conquistador full of prejudices and confidence like a true Frenchman; he makes trouble with repetition, he is always politically incorrect, he gets by almost without realizing it, he shakes his hands when he has to do it and in the end he will discover that his world is over forever. But will anyone have the courage to tell him? (HANDLE).
