L'Opération Corned-Beef ("Operation Corned Beef") is a 1991 French action comedy film starring Christian Clavier, Jean Reno and Valérie Lemercier.
Captain Philippe Boulier (Reno) is a military intelligence officer. His team is spying on a foreign consul who is an intermediary between a Colombian arms dealer and a traitor inside the French government. They have planted a microphone inside the ring of Marie-Laurence Granianski (Lemercier), an interpreter who works in the consulate. Unfortunately, she plans to go on holiday with her husband at the time of the meeting between the arms dealer and the mysterious traitor. Boulier designs a plan: a female agent will seduce Jean-Jacques Granianski, Marie-Laurence's husband, and compromising evidence will be sent to Marie-Laurence, so that she will cancel her holiday. Unfortunately, the only agent who is attractive enough for this mission is Isabelle Fourreau, Boulier's own wife.
The director and the three leading actors would go on to make Les Visiteurs two years later.
L'Opération Corned-Beef provides examples of:
- Agents Dating: Boulier is married with another DGSE agent, Isabelle Fourreau. Their relationship goes awry when Isabelle Fourreau is ordered to sleep with a random guy in the framework of her job.
- Angry Guard Dog: The consul has several dangerous guard dogs. They kill a DGSE agent when he gets into the consulate.
- Arms Dealer: Augusto Zargas, a Colombian arms dealer who sells advanced French weapons illegally.
- Dramatic Irony:
- The audience knows that the agent sent to seduce Jean-Jacques is Boulier's wife, unlike Boulier. This is Played for Laughs when Boulier insists that she accomplishes her mission.
- The audience knows that Jean-Jacques's lover is is Boulier's wife, unlike Jean-Jacques. This is Played for Laughs when Jean-Jacques gives Boulier smutty details about his extramarital relationship.
- Dream Intro: The prologue shows Philippe Boulier fighting drug traffickers in Colombia. After a Chase Scene, he is killed by Zargas. Then he wakes up in his bed: it was just a dream.
- Evil Cripple: The head of the DST uses a wheelchair. Downplayed, because he is not outright evil, he is just an Obstructive Bureaucrat who tries to stop Boulier, the protagonist.
- Fake Action Prologue: The prologue shows Philippe Boulier fighting drug traffickers in Colombia. After a Chase Scene, he is killed by Zargas. Then the prologue is revealed to be a Dream Intro.
- Femme Fatale Spy: Isabelle Fourreau, an intelligence officer, seduces Jean-Jacques Granianski in the framework of a spying operation.
- Here We Go Again!: In the end, François Mitterrand asks Fourreau to sleep with Mikhail Gorbachev as part of a new mission.
- Hidden Wire: The DGSE hides a microphone inside Marie-Laurence's ring, who is not aware of it. Somehow it works without a transmitter.
- Interservice Rivalry: Philippe Boulier works for the DGSE, a French intelligence agency. Officially, he cannot operate on French soil, where the DST, another intelligence agency, is competent, but he does it secretly, because he does not trust the DST and does not want to cooperate with them.
- Invisible President: Both François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl are only shown from behind. An actor imitates their voices.
- Plausible Deniability: A minister tells Masse and Boulier that they can keep on spying on the consul illegally, but he warns them that if they get caught he will deny involvement. In the end, the minister actually stresses the fact that Masse cannot prove that he approved the mission.
- The Precious, Precious Car: Jean-Jacques's brand new Citroën BX gets completely trashed by the end of the film.
- Red Baron: Boulier, a badass intelligence officer, is nicknamed Le Squale ("the shark").
- Right-Hand Attack Dog: The consul has several dangerous guard dogs. They kill a DGSE agent when he gets into the consulate.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Boulier, a badass intelligence officer, has to take care of Jean-Jacques Granianski, a feeble psychological consultant.
- Spies In a Van: Boulier's team uses a van to spy on the consulate. It is supposed to be a van of occupational medicine services.
- Spy Speak: The mission is named "Operation Corned Beef" by the intelligence service because the last name of the target is "Burger".
- Villainous Crush: Zargas, the arms dealer, has a crush on Marie-Laurence Granianski.
