Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/82909
Type: Journal article
Title: Jean Dujardin, OSS 117, and the art of the spoof
Author: McCann, B.
Citation: Essays in French Literature and Culture, 2013; 50:69-85
Publisher: Department of European Languages, University of Western Australia
Issue Date: 2013
ISSN: 0071-139X
1835-7040
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Ben McCann
Abstract: The French comic actor Jean Dujardin has become best known for his role as Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath in the immensely popular 'OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions' (2007) and 'OSS 117: Rio ne repond plus' (2009). Both OSS films are detailed period pastiches that parody the conventions of the 1960s James Bond series. Euro-spy film tropes - production design, cinematography, title sequences - are all fastidiously recreated, and the films refract the attitudes of the era through their broad physical comedy routines. This article will demonstrate how Dujardin's performance style conforms to Jerry Palmer's 'the logic of the absurd' in which both the plausible and the implausible collide and collude. Dujardin's lithe form, his facial tics, and fluid physicality are all perfectly suited to this collision. Moreover, his background in cabaret and stand-up comedy, and his honed tradition of audience interaction and direct address, bestow upon Dujardin the privileged status of a performer who is playing with the codes and conventions of narrative cinema.
Keywords: Jean Dujardin
OSS 117
pastiche
spoof
performance style
Rights: Copyright status unknown
Published version: http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=810555438252173;res=IELHSS
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest
French publications

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
RA_hdl_82909.pdf
  Restricted Access
Restricted Access167.04 kBAdobe PDFView/Open


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.