Something is wrong in OSS 117 3 (review)

The third part of the adventures of Hubert Bonnisseur de la Bath, less unbridled than the first two, left us wanting more.

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath will once again be in the spotlight this evening on M6. But with something new in plain text: OSS 117 3 will be broadcast at 9:10 p.m., followed by the first part, Cairo nest of spies, at 11:20 p.m. What is this sequel made by Nicolas Bedos worth? Here is our review, originally published in July 2021, during its broadcast at the closing of the 74th Cannes Film Festival.

Note that this diffusion coincides with the surprise broadcast ofAlphonsethe series also directed by Bedos and carried by Jean Dujardin, on Prime Video.

The best replicas of OSS 117

It has already been twelve years since we had any news from Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath! Needless to say, we waited before seeing him again, in 1981, when France was preparing, to its great chagrin, to move to the left. For this mission in Françafrique, he finds himself forced to team up with a young colleague, 0SS 1001, a very fan of him before understanding the true nature of the character, in whom elegance, high self-esteem and brilliant buffoonery are nothing but ‘A.

Hazanavicius having decided not to return, Nicolas Bedos succeeds him. The elegance of its staging is never faulted, nor is the impeccable composition of Jean Dujardin and his complicity with the rookie Pierre Niney. And yet, something is wrong. The fact that the script seems to follow every bold or inflated claim about Africa with a scene that feels like a justification or an excuse. Quite the opposite of the first two parts which confronted the questions of racism and anti-Semitism using the sole weapon of the absurd, without worrying about what people will say.

Is it the desire not to stutter? Is this the era that has changed and led to self-censorship so as not to be overwhelmed by controversies or bad buzz? Red alert in black Africa in any case move forward with a handbrake. The result is in no way unpleasant, but falls short of the film we had hoped for. In this same family of caustic, absurd and cruel comedy, Simply black last year offered a relevant impertinence here that was too corseted.

OSS 117 3: “The vast majority of the public understood the mechanism of satire”