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Well there's no way Berenice would ever win an Oscar based on the screen time she had. If you compare her to the likes of Pat Fearing, Sylvia Trench, Molly Warmflash, Paris Carver, Bibi Dahl then sure, by comparison she's easily the "best Bond girl" given her screen time.
Ask Judi Dench about that... ;)
I agree with this assessment. Severine is less impressive due to her lack of screen time, so my vote would go to Andrea Anders instead. Like Strawberry Fields in QoS before her, I think that Severine was much too hyped up about before Skyfall's release.
10 votes so far: Severine
05 votes so far: Andrea Anders
This! I think therein lies one if the major issues I have with Severine; she was overly hyped as this unique and special Bond girl that would bring something new and different compared to the likes of Vesper and Camille. It didn't help that Onnatop was cited as a loose template as to what we could expect and Mendes harping on about how Severine is his idea of a Bond girl but in the end, Severine had about as much screen time as Solange and Fields and for me that hurts the significance of the character as an iconic and memorable Bond girl.
I think Mendes maybe tried to make Severine a latter day Jill Masterson but I don't think it worked.
So.......why doesn't it hurt you more that Solange and Fields had as much screentime as Severine?
I think...if screentime is the major factor, the major argument in saying that the character is flawed, you are actually belittling someone's acting skills.....and someone's writing (screenplay) skills.
In my opinion.....the major argument should always be: how the character was written and how the actor/actress performed that character. Having said that......if I were a female (just 'if' ok guys :-P)....I would be more happy to be actress Berenice Marlohe than actress Caterina Murino or Gemma Arterton.
Why? In a way......Severine reminded me about Vesper. The moment in the casino where Bond is basically reading her minds.......is so reminiscent of Vesper's fear in 'Casino Royale'. Pulling that off for me is artistically way more impressive than acting your way in a role called 'Solange' or 'Fields'.
This is my personal opinion off course ;-). Please....don't....feel offended...
Similarities can be found in the majority of the Bond girls and regarding Vesper and Severine both are tragic characters but as I again mentioned before Eva's Vesper is superior in every way in terms of character. Eva is the better actress and a far more interesting character and that helps due to the fact that she had far more character exposition and character interaction which can't be said for Berenice.
Marlohe's performance was imminently Oscar-worthy. Her work in the casino sequence was the best ever by any Bond girl. The only ceiling on her performance was its brevity.
Maybe. Maybe not. But her performance in SF was as good as anything Dench has ever done. And Oscars are for unique performances, not lifetime achievements.
You spoke of overall acting ability, which, perforce, is determined by an actor's overall career. But an individual Oscar is given for one's performance in a single film. Hence, Halle Berry, a weak actress, nevertheless won her Oscar for her presumably praiseworthy performance in a single film. Ergo, Dench may be a much better actress than Marlohe, but I would argue that Marlohe's performance in SF was equal to anything Dench has ever done and Dench managed to win an Oscar.
Regarding Eva Green, all I can do is shake my head and chuckle. She was perfectly fine in CR, but doesn't make the top five of all Bond girls. Were it not for her affected performance in the card game sequences, I might compare her to Marlohe. But alas, no.
As for Green, I don't know where to rank her but if she's not top 5 then Berenice would be lucky to make the top 10. Which ever way one slices it, Eva's performance as a Bond girl heck her introduction alone on the train was better and more memorable than what Befenice did in SF.
She might have had a small role but it was enough to have an impact on me, her death was needed to drive the story, that being said I haven't yet started tearing Skyfall apart like some and it remains number 2 in my ratings so maybe I'm a little biased in my opinion on the subject.
Saying that though, even though Marlohe did a brilliant job (and imo was miles better than the very wooden Eve) and gave a great performance, I think it's laughable to say she deserved an Oscar.
Re: Hudson, a short career is nevertheless an overall career. But at any rate, you make my point--she had no reputation to speak of yet still won an Oscar based upon her performance in a single film. Hence, a single performance, not an outstanding overall oeuvre--just as could have been the case with Marlohe--got her the award.
As to Marlohe verses Green, you have descended to adolescent whining, which bores me to the point of having no further interest.
I only make that Craig-era comparison because Marlohe, given the brevity of her screen-time, was really a tier 2 Bond-girl, not a lead like Green or Kurylenko.
There was no lead Bond-girl in SF. If anything the lead was Dench.
I do think Marlohe's performance compares very favourably with Green's.
Green's performance was admirable,quite well realized, but Marlohe's performance was positively memorable. It's one of the great Bond-girl acting jobs. Her character haunts. Arguably the most tragic character in all of movie Bondom. I say that because she never had a chance. Severine was the ultimate victim....doomed. There was nothing even Bond could do for her.
Even Tracy had pulled it together before she was gunned down. And Vesper IMO was much better conceived by Fleming. Fleming's Vesper was a truly tragic character. Green's Vesper wasn't in quite the hopeless situation that Fleming's Vesper was. Movie Vesper was a blackmail victim. She was salvageable, but she killed herself instead. Fleming's Vesper was looking at life in prison. She was a full blown traitor, who pulled one over on Bond.
Marlohe really caught the pathos inherent in her character. I don't find Green's Vesper to be as interesting or tragic a character.
====However despite the Marlohe love, I am still firmly in the Adams as Anders camp.
For me, her performance had much greater appeal, maybe not Oscar worthy, but I don't give a darn about Oscar worthiness when it comes to Bond performances. I am going for screen presence and apeal and in that regard, Adams is AAA-list Bond-girl.
Indeed, as Judi famously said that her Oscar winning role in Shakespeare in Love was only about 8 minutes of onscreen time. How I loved her winning it for that role, though. And she is such a class act.
So my vote goes to Ms. Anders. She was a more integral part of the story and seemed to be a more important asset to the lead villain. I think it hurt Scaramanga more, in his own twisted way, when he had to kill her.
That's an interesting statement. I disagree about the interesting part. Vesper was an extremely dynamic and complex character. She was much more fleshed out than Severine was.
As far as the tragic part goes, I tend to agree with you. Severine seemed to be a woman whose circumstances were completely out of her control. Vesper's death was tragic but, in the end, she made a choice. She had the ability to not betray her country.
Did Vesper really had a choice? They threatened to kill her real bf Yussuf Kabira (obviously a guy she felt less in love with, after Bond came in her life), who was seen in the end scene of QOS. Yes, Vesper 'could have gone to the police'. But mentally she felt so trapped in a web of conspiracies......that's what really killed her....
Sometimes...people tend to forget that suicides are like real murders: They are only executed when people don't see a solution anymore. The only difference is that with a suicide....the final death of a person is done by that very same person.
I believe the Severine hype was misdirection to disguise the identity of Eve.
Vesper may have convinced herself that she was out of options as all suicide victims do, but still she had a choice. Yes Bond may have ditched their run-off-and-get-married plans, but she would likely has survived an Mi6 inquistion, if she had come over to the good.
Compare with Fleming's Vesper, who had a long history of traitorous double-agent dealings with Smersh. She was living a lie with Bond that she knew couldn't last. So she killed herself rather than continue the lie, or come clean and face life in prison. She also had a choice, but not much of one.
I'll second. It's probably my bias in favor of 1960s through 1980s Bond, but I'll cast my vote for Miss Anders.
Also, their deaths, Severine's felt more sacrificial and "heartbreaking" because we saw it happen and we saw the build up. Andrea's was predictable and much less "heartbreaking" due to Bond finding her in an unrealistic way and us not seeing the death.
[By unrealistic I mean that she was shot either before the boxing or during and her body managed to stay upright and in position. Also, the expression her face was almost like she was waxwork in Madame Tussards. Surely, she would have slumped to the ground and surely someone would have seen it happen?]
It may have felt that way to you, but in the case of Miss Anders this doesn't seem correct. Bond just didn't "turn up", Anders sent the golden bullet and a note with his fingerprint on it in the hope he would do her dirty work for her. He may have eventually crossed paths with Scaramanga during his Solex mission and taken him out to Anders' satisfaction, but this isn't how it went. In the case of Severine, Bond really did turn up and present her with the opportunity to rid herself of Silva. This is definitely a tribute to TMWTGG in keeping with the various 50th anniversary nods we see in SF.