# OSS 117: Lost in Rio
**OSS 117: Lost in Rio** (*OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus*) is a 2009 French spy comedy directed by [Michel Hazanavicius](https://www.edgepedia.org/michel-hazanavicius), starring [Jean Dujardin](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-dujardin) as the bumbling secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, codenamed OSS 117. It is the second of Hazanavicius's OSS 117 parodies, following *[OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies](https://www.edgepedia.org/oss-117-cairo-nest-of-spies)* (2006), and it sends the agent to Rio de Janeiro in 1967 to capture a Nazi blackmailer holding a microfilmed list of French collaborators with the Hitler regime.[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/119979) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/14/oss-lost-in-rio-film-review)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus*; French release 15 April 2009, runtime 100 minutes, visa no. 119979[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/119979) |
| Director and writers | Michel Hazanavicius, written with Jean-François Halin[3](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/oss-117-lost-in-rio) |
| Cast | Jean Dujardin (Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath), Louise Monot (Dolores Koulechov), Rüdiger Vogler (Von Zimmel), Alex Lutz (Heinrich)[3](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/oss-117-lost-in-rio) |
| Setting | Brazil, 1967; the mission runs from Rio to Brasília and the Iguazu Falls[3](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/oss-117-lost-in-rio) |
| French box office | 2,520,826 admissions; budget 20,000,000 EUR; distributed by Gaumont[4](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D111835.html) |
| Critical reception | 74% on Rotten Tomatoes (53 reviews), 63% audience score; Metacritic metascore 58[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oss_117_lost_in_rio) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/oss-117---lost-in-rio/critic-reviews/) |
| US release | Distributed by Music Box Films in 2010; US gross $87.4K[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oss-117-lost-in-rio-2010) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oss_117_lost_in_rio) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
Twelve years after the Cairo mission, OSS 117 is sent to Rio de Janeiro in 1967 to find a former high-ranking Nazi, Colonel von Zimmel (Rüdiger Vogler), who went into exile in South America after the war and holds a microfilm listing Frenchmen who collaborated with the Hitler regime during the Second World War. The French government wants the agent to pay the blackmailer off; when the deal collapses, Hubert teams up with Dolores Koulechov (Louise Monot), a Mossad agent who wants to take von Zimmel back to Israel to face charges.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/14/oss-lost-in-rio-film-review) • [8](https://www.kqed.org/arts/29439/lost_in_rio_spy_comedy_with_a_french_twist) • [3](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/oss-117-lost-in-rio)
The investigation takes the pair across Brazil, from Rio's beaches to Brasília, the [Iguazu Falls](https://www.edgepedia.org/iguazu-falls), and the top of Corcovado's Christ the Redeemer statue, set to a bossa nova score.[3](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/oss-117-lost-in-rio) The comedy rests on Hubert's cheerful obliviousness: he voices casual racism, sexism, and antisemitism while believing himself the height of European suavity, and Dolores serves as the foil for his foot-in-mouth remarks.[8](https://www.kqed.org/arts/29439/lost_in_rio_spy_comedy_with_a_french_twist) In one exchange, when Dolores asks what you call a country with a military leader, a secret police, one TV station, and censorship, Hubert answers triumphantly, "France... de Gaulle's France!"[9](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/oss-117-lost-in-rio-review/mqo2ipdyk)
## The OSS 117 character
Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath predates [James Bond](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-bond): the character first appeared in print in 1949 in the novels of Jean Bruce, who wrote 91 books in 14 years, after which Bruce's widow Josette penned 143 more. The OSS man first appeared in film in 1957 and was once played by [John Gavin](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-gavin) in 1968; Roger Ebert, the film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times* from 1967 until his death in 2013 and winner of the 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism, notes that Ian Fleming may have found some inspiration in Bruce's creation.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oss-117-lost-in-rio-2010) Hazanavicius's films revive the character as a parody: while the original stories were played straight, *Cairo, Nest of Spies* and *Lost in Rio* send up the James Bond movies and the unthinkingly reactionary attitudes of the postwar French ruling classes.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oss-117-lost-in-rio-2010) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/14/oss-lost-in-rio-film-review)
In an interview, Hazanavicius explained the choice of target for the character's "forbidden wisecracks": since OSS "confronted Arabs in the first film, it was healthy to change things and it fell on the Jews." He had initially wanted the action set in Israel around the Six Day War, but the idea was set aside and the search for Nazis in Brazil was chosen instead.[10](https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2010/0514/OSS-117-Lost-in-Rio-movie-review) • [11](https://www.musicboxfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/OSS117RIO-FINALNOTES.pdf)
## Style and references
The film recreates the look of a slightly faded 1960s widescreen thriller, with period costumes, sets, cars, and even film stock, and it deliberately uses visible rear projection on studio sets; the stunts and effects are staged to look as if they might have been made in 1967.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oss-117-lost-in-rio-2010) Hazanavicius described the visual approach as a mix of obvious elements such as split screens and abrupt zooms with more discreet ones like more colorful lighting, and said the film references more than twenty movies, from *Harper* and *That Man from Rio* to *[The Thomas Crown Affair](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-thomas-crown-affair-1968-film)*, *North by Northwest*, the *Matt Helm* series, *On Her Majesty's Secret Service*, and Suzuki's *Tokyo Drifter*.[11](https://www.musicboxfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/OSS117RIO-FINALNOTES.pdf) Reviewers cataloged specific callouts: Dujardin wears [Paul Newman](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-newman)'s wardrobe from *Harper*, disguises himself as [Errol Flynn](https://www.edgepedia.org/errol-flynn) in *The Adventures of Robin Hood*, confronts an enemy atop the Christ the Redeemer statue in the manner of the climax of Hitchcock's *Saboteur*, and fights his fear of heights on a spiral staircase in a sequence from *Vertigo*.[12](https://www.avclub.com/oss-117-lost-in-rio-1798164908)
## Reception
The film was a substantial commercial success in France with 2,520,826 admissions against a 20,000,000 EUR budget, and [French press](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-press) reviews averaged 4.1 out of 5 on AlloCiné across 28 reviews; *TéléCinéObs* called it a sequel better than the original, while *Le Monde* noted the risk of the character turning into his own parody.[4](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D111835.html) • [13](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-111835/critiques/presse/) English-language reception was more mixed: Rotten Tomatoes recorded 74% among 53 critics with a critics consensus praising Dujardin's performance and the "absurdly fun action" and "politically incorrect humor," while the audience score was 63%; Metacritic gave a metascore of 58, in the "mixed or average" band.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oss_117_lost_in_rio) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/oss-117---lost-in-rio/critic-reviews/) In the United States, where Music Box Films released it in 2010, it grossed $87.4K.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oss_117_lost_in_rio)
Critics divided over the film's handling of its offensive humor. Peter Rainer, film critic for *The Christian Science Monitor*, wrote that the black-comedy moments sometimes seem to cross the line, particularly when the Nazi villain paraphrases Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from *The Merchant of Venice*; he gave the film a B grade.[10](https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2010/0514/OSS-117-Lost-in-Rio-movie-review) The *Guardian*'s Peter Bradshaw called it "naughty, silly and wildly non-PC" and judged it easily the equal of the Clouseau adventures.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/14/oss-lost-in-rio-film-review) The *A.V. Club*'s Tasha Robinson described the humor as "Austin Powers goofery by way of Mel Brooks, though with a cooler, dryer tone and a much straighter face," and noted a sense of diminished returns relative to the first film.[12](https://www.avclub.com/oss-117-lost-in-rio-1798164908)
## Place in the series
*Lost in Rio* is the second entry in Hazanavicius's OSS 117 trilogy. A third film, *OSS 117: Alerte rouge en Afrique noire* (2021), was directed by Nicolas Bedos, with Jean-François Halin again among the writers; French press reviews averaged 2.8 out of 5 on AlloCiné, lower than for *Rio ne répond plus*.[14](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-262383/critiques/presse/) Hazanavicius himself resisted the word "sequel," noting that there had already been eight OSS films in the 1960s and over a hundred books, and that each new mission represents a new adventure for a character who lends himself to serialization.[11](https://www.musicboxfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/OSS117RIO-FINALNOTES.pdf)
## References
1. [OSS 117 Rio ne répond plus, visa no. 119979, CNC Visas et Classification](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/119979)
2. [Peter Bradshaw, "OSS-117: Lost in Rio," The Guardian, 14 January 2010](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/14/oss-lost-in-rio-film-review)
3. [OSS 117, Lost in Rio, Gaumont official page](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/oss-117-lost-in-rio)
4. [OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus, AlloCiné film page](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D111835.html)
5. [OSS 117: Lost in Rio, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oss_117_lost_in_rio)
6. [OSS 117 - Lost in Rio critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/oss-117---lost-in-rio/critic-reviews/)
7. [Roger Ebert, "From Rio with Love," rogerebert.com, 9 June 2010](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oss-117-lost-in-rio-2010)
8. [Scott Tobias, "'Lost In Rio': Spy Comedy With A French Twist," KQED, 6 May 2010](https://www.kqed.org/arts/29439/lost_in_rio_spy_comedy_with_a_french_twist)
9. [Peter Galvin, "OSS - 117: Lost in Rio Review," SBS, 8 March 2010](https://www.sbs.com.au/whats-on/article/oss-117-lost-in-rio-review/mqo2ipdyk)
10. [Peter Rainer, "OSS 117: Lost in Rio: movie review," The Christian Science Monitor, 14 May 2010](https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2010/0514/OSS-117-Lost-in-Rio-movie-review)
11. [Notes from writer-director Michel Hazanavicius, Music Box Films press notes](https://www.musicboxfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/OSS117RIO-FINALNOTES.pdf)
12. [Tasha Robinson, "OSS 117: Lost In Rio," The A.V. Club, 6 May 2010](https://www.avclub.com/oss-117-lost-in-rio-1798164908)
13. [Critiques Presse pour le film OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-111835/critiques/presse/)
14. [Critiques Presse pour le film OSS 117: Alerte rouge en Afrique noire, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-262383/critiques/presse/)
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