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She broke James Bond and even broke some of the watchers: Vesper Lynd
I found this article 100% true. Because, I've been through this once. Ever since I saw "Casino Royale" when I was thirteen, I found it very touching. Vesper really did hurt me and I felt what Bond felt when he was left with his heart broken.
http://stars.ign.com/articles/838/838732p2.html
"Using her sharp wit and bountiful, um, charms, Vesper gave 007 a run for his money, or rather Her Majesty's money, as she controlled how much Bond could gamble in Casino Royale's high-stakes poker game. In doing so, she revealed to suffer from classic FF symptoms: chip on her shoulder, ex-boyfriend in danger to justify her betrayal, and the inevitable double-cross, which leaves Bond quite shaken and stirred".
"Unlike most femme fatales, Vesper owned up to her duplicitous ways, but only too late. For she, like Bond, was beyond saving. And the only thing that hurts more than knowing the woman you loved burned you, is that she really did love you while doing it".
Who does feel this pain? And who wants revenge? But, unlike what happened in QoS. Who wanted a revenge story? If you wanted all time long, keep in touch.
http://stars.ign.com/articles/838/838732p2.html
"Using her sharp wit and bountiful, um, charms, Vesper gave 007 a run for his money, or rather Her Majesty's money, as she controlled how much Bond could gamble in Casino Royale's high-stakes poker game. In doing so, she revealed to suffer from classic FF symptoms: chip on her shoulder, ex-boyfriend in danger to justify her betrayal, and the inevitable double-cross, which leaves Bond quite shaken and stirred".
"Unlike most femme fatales, Vesper owned up to her duplicitous ways, but only too late. For she, like Bond, was beyond saving. And the only thing that hurts more than knowing the woman you loved burned you, is that she really did love you while doing it".
Who does feel this pain? And who wants revenge? But, unlike what happened in QoS. Who wanted a revenge story? If you wanted all time long, keep in touch.
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Comments
maybe there's more to this than I thought. thanks for the link!
I had just rewatched TWINE a few days ago and remembered how much the guys my age hated Elektra. Not hated her because they didn't like the actress or performance, hated her because of the idea of a character manipulating a guy she was sleeping with. When a guy is younger a lot of his ego is based on pleasing a woman and having women finding him attractive. A lot of guys will brag about their prowess and how much girls like them. One of the biggest fears for a guy - often internalized, never spoken out loud because you can't admit it's a possibility - is that the woman is "faking" - either sexually or even emotionally. Because then that carefully constructed idea of "I'm the MAN! I rock! I'm a god in bed! I'm better and tougher than all the other guys I know!" comes crashing down in an instant.
When we're younger we can have a lot of very angry responses to rather inconsequential issues such as when our team loses a game, if someone doesn't like our car, whether our favourite band is better than someone else's favourite band, etc. But for pure white hot anger and vitriol I don't think I've heard more viscious responses than towards a woman who we feel has dissed or betrayed us. As I said in a previous post I think it's the worst primal fear for a lot of us when we're younger (and for some, like a couple of previous co-workers of mine, even when we're in our 40s or 50s).
Bond's "The bitch is dead" response is a typical one where anger is used to cover up the hurt. A few guys I've known have become very bitter over being hurt by a woman, sometimes even tipping over into misogyny. Saying, for instance, that they've "learned their lesson" and will always break up with a girl before she can break up with them, or feeling free to cheat on a girl because eventually she'll just do it to them...which leads to a bitter, unfulfilling life. Opening yourself up to someone includes the possibility of being hurt, but you never get the benefits of anything without risking something.
It's an interesting thought experiment to think about how Craig's Bond will act over the next 20 or 30 years. Will he stop himself for ever falling for someone and allowing himself to be vulnerable again? If so, only for professional reasons or personal as well? Will he eventually learn to open up again as he gets older and more experienced? Or will he die alone?
Was he hurt? Do wolfs howl to the moon at night?!(no offense, Vesper is my favorite) Bond is wrecked. He let his guard down for this woman, and when he sees he's betrayed he is broken. He says 'the bitch is dead' to mask his pain from M, and treat Vesper like just another mission casualty. In good reason. If you pay attention Bond says this directly after M says he can take time off if its needed. Bond intrudes to get back to MI6, and so he goes to White.
On another note, awesome thread @JamesBond(awesome name). Vesper is my favorite Bond girl so I feel so inclined to come to this thread often afterwards. I indeed felt Bond's pain. Vesper starts out very masculine dressing, but then changes to formal and casual dresses. In a way Bond has made her feel pretty, feel wanted, so she shows more of herself to him. Near the end of the film, when Bond says the password for the money is VESPER, it is very hard to watch again and see Vesper cry. Because if we've seen it more than once, we know she isn't only crying for the love of Bond, but because that password is the exact piece of information that will be used to get the money. Even more chilling is Vesper's final scene. Locking herself in the elevator, she plunges into the water as Bond reaches emotionally for her under the Venician waters. I always thought Vesper did this because she couldn't live on with Bond if he always knew of her betrayal. She couldn't take living with his hurt and the knowledge he had of what she did to him. A very sad end to a film, where White walks away with the money, and sooner then gets shot and trunked.
As for the revenge aspect, QoS was very much a revenge story. I don't see how it is seen as different. Bond is shadowed the entire film by Vesper's memory, with the photo in Siena(which he sneaks when M isn't looking), the drinks to forget her on the plane and the talk with Mathis, Mathis telling Bond to forgive her before he dies in his arms, and finally Bond's confrontation with Yusef. All movie Bond is conflicted. Bond comments to Camille, 'It seems we're both using Greene to get to somebody." Camille answers "You lost somebody too?" Bond answers "Yes". He could be talking about getting to several people at this moment. Guy Haines, White, Yusef, they are all the best choices. The guessing game is fun though in QoS. Finally in the resolution of QoS, Bond and Yusef finally meet. I don't know if any of you felt this, but after what Bond had been through I thought for sure Bond would put one in Yusef. He was the cause of her betrayal, seducing her as part of Quantum and she becoming a double agent when Yusef is "kidnapped" and put to death if she doesn't agree. But what Vesper doesn't know is there is no danger for Yusef, he is tight within the organization and after she dies he is on his way to getting another girl for Quantum, as Bond sees in the apartment. Instead of killing Yusef and getting his anger out, he restrains and let Yusef get taken by MI6. He'll let him live with the guilt of what he's done. He now sees Vesper didn't want to double cross him. She loved Yusef and would do everything to keep him alive. She agreed to get the money if Bond won, and never knew she'd fall in love with him. She saves his life at the barge with her agreement to get the money if he stayed alive, cueing White to pop Le Chiffre and leave Bond alive so Vesper can get the password later(which she does with wet eyes). All this time she doesn't know Yusef is actually double crossing her, and the hurt continues. The final scenes of CR are cold. From Bond's call from M to his realization that he has been duped. He gets to Gettler and his men, and fights, still wanting to save Vesper at the end of the rumble. Her death scene is dark and menacing, and shows Bond clawing for her, and his unsuccessful attempts to bring her back to the land of the living with CPR. Now we face a conflicted Bond. He goes back to treating women as one night stands, as we see with Fields, because his trust and ability to love are harkened. We go back to Russia at the end of QoS and see Bond leave the apartment, keeping Yusef alive, even to M's surprise. This moment is the best of the film, and we see Bond forgiving Vesper. He throws her necklace into the snow. He says to M 'you were right about Vesper'. He has seen that she didn't mean to cause him this harm, or fall in love with him, it just happened. He lets go of the material object, and just keeps her memory, ready to move on with his life.
All in all Vesper is an amazing character, literally and cinematically. Her efforts to turn against Quantum to help Bond are admirable. The performance of the beautiful Ms. Green is spellbinding, and I would never want another actress to play the part but her. She added to the character great feel and gave my favorite scene of the film and franchise, the Montenegro train scene, such a great allure. And at that point so starts the sparks between Bond and her. It's too bad they had to end.
But, as for QoS, it wasn't even a revenge film. Bond should have found Quantum, tortured them and compromised their projects.
As for Vesper's betrayal, I've been through this once, but I haven't responded for it yet. So, I'm currently writing a Bond fan fiction with a friend of mine, where Vesper will be alive, faked her death (her double was the one who died in the elevator plunge, a lesbian who would have done anything for her). So, the real Vesper escapes with White, as he leaves with the money, going downstairs to meet with her. Why do you think Gettler pulled Vesper inside the building, why she was bleeding? because she wasn't the one who was bleeding.
As for Craig's Bond, he's rough and too much Jason Bourne, he needs to be classic Bond again. So, I've fixed that in my novel "Masquerade". The book is split into three parts: "Blunt Instrument" (CR and QoS), "Cold Conspiracy" (direct sequel, brand new Bourne-type Bond story, which is high treason for poor Bond) and "Behind the Veil of Spectre" (5 years later from the latest event, returning of classic Bond, or rough Bond transforming into Classic Bond). If you want to know the whole story let me know.
I must confess that Vesper is my favourite Bond Girl, too. I really loved Eva Green, and listed her no.1 best actress in my list. I wish I'll have a girlfriend like Vesper (both in appearance and persona), but with one condition, she must love me and never betray me. Because, the latest one brought me some memories, bad memories when she betrayed me to my archenemy. I still want revenge. I know I will respond for it someday.
As for the story's you're working on, send me a PM and a link and I'd be happy to give them a read if you need other opinions. I like writing thriller type espionage dramas, but mine are strictly CIA, not MI6. If only I was born British....
And uh, here's a cinematic poster of my fan fiction:
http://jackchristian.deviantart.com/art/Bond-23-Masquerade-2-217635389
The thing that "amazes" me is the fact, that at some points through the movie, it even looks as if Vesper forgot about Yusuf, hence the absence of the Necklace. It seems to me that she figured "why all this trouble?" she feels connected to bond, safe when he's around. And that what makes her so interresting...
I'll come back to this when I've finished watching Casino and Quantum, when everything is refreshed ;-)
And thank you for the link, Vesper is sort of a cold figure for Bond as now he knows he can never love someone quite like that. Her love for Yusef might have left for James Bond because of her stopping of wearing the love knot.
@AgentJamesBond007, as soon as I finish it, I'll PM you. If you want a short blurb of the plot, let me know.
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/freedompass/
Yeah I think he was. I mean he did seem to have genuinely fallen in love with her I just think that when she died, he found that concentrating on her betrayal made it easier for him to cope.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/books/review/the-spy-who-loved-by-clare-mulley.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0