I never realised that in France they had a series called OSS 117 which is a Bond-esque spy drama containing a fair bit of comedy, that has run to over 90 novels, with over 75 million copies sold. OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions (OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies) is the latest in the film franchise and over 30,000 people saw it on the opening week.

From the Guardian comes the revelation:

De la Bath was created by French writer Jean Bruce in 1949 and thus predates his MI6 counterpart by four years...

...Pierre Sury, an editor who has just republished two of the de la Bath books, said the agent had aged well: 'The film has made him contemporary again. It deals with themes very much part of the contemporary world in the Middle East.'

Jean Dujardin, the actor who plays de la Bath, tries to mix action hero and farce, describing his style punningly as 'a little bit of Sean and a lot of connerie [stupidity]'. The result is a character who, says Dujardin, is 'a colonialist, misogynist, macho, unthinkingly homophobic and superior even if he is totally without any culture'.

It's interesting that this character has been running for so long and then has been laid to rest since 1970. This marks his return, and a return to the Middle East too. Interestingly OSS is an American agency and this character is a CIA spy. Perhaps the perfect timing for such a character, Bond like, stupid and outdated, in the Middle East and American...no wonder he's doing well in France.