Vesper Lynd

Last updated

Vesper Lynd
James Bond character
Vesperlynd.jpeg
Eva Green as Vesper Lynd
First appearance Casino Royale (1953 novel)
Last appearance Casino Royale (2006 film)
Created by Ian Fleming
Portrayed by Ursula Andress (1967)
Eva Green (2006)
In-universe information
GenderFemale
OccupationDouble agent
AffiliationNovel:

Film:

Classification Bond girl/Henchwoman

Vesper Lynd is a fictional character featured in Ian Fleming's 1953 James Bond novel Casino Royale . She was portrayed by Ursula Andress in the 1967 James Bond parody, which is only slightly based on the novel, and by Eva Green in the 2006 film adaptation.

Contents

In the novel, the character explains that she was born "on a very stormy evening", and that her parents named her "Vesper", Latin for "evening" and Bond then gives her name to a cocktail he has recently invented. The "Vesper" became popular after the novel's publication. The actual name for the drink (as well as its complete recipe) was mentioned on screen for the first time in the 2006 film adaptation of Casino Royale. [1]

In 1993, journalist Donald McCormick claimed that Fleming based Vesper on Polish agent Krystyna Skarbek, who was working for Special Operations Executive when he knew her. [2]

Novel biography

Vesper works at MI6 headquarters as a personal assistant to the Head of Section S. She is lent to Bond, much to his irritation, to assist him in his mission to bankrupt Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a SMERSH-controlled trade union. She poses as a radio seller, working with secret agent Rene Mathis, and later as Bond's companion to infiltrate the casino in Royale-Les-Eaux, where Le Chiffre frequently gambles. After Bond takes all of Le Chiffre's money in a high-stakes game of baccarat, Vesper is abducted by Le Chiffre's thugs, who also capture Bond when he tries to rescue her. Both are rescued after Le Chiffre is murdered by a SMERSH agent as punishment for losing the organization's money, but only after Le Chiffre has tortured Bond.

Vesper visits Bond every day in the hospital, and the two grow very close; much to his own surprise, Bond develops genuine feelings for her, and even dreams of leaving the service and marrying her. After he is released from the hospital, they go on a holiday together and eventually become lovers.

Vesper has a terrible secret, however – she is a double agent working for the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and worked with Bond only because she was ordered to lure him into a trap. (Her kidnapping was staged to lure Bond into Le Chiffre's clutches.) Before she met Bond, she had been romantically involved with a Polish RAF operative. This man had been captured by SMERSH and revealed information about Vesper under torture. Hence, SMERSH was using this operative to blackmail Vesper into helping them. After Le Chiffre's death, she tries to make a fresh start with Bond, but she realises this is impossible when she sees SMERSH operative Adolph Gettler tracking them. Consumed with guilt and certain that SMERSH will find and kill both of them, she commits suicide, leaving a note admitting her treachery and pledging her love to Bond.

Bond deals with his grief over her death by denouncing her as a traitor and returning to work as though nothing has happened, coldly telling his superiors, "The job is done, and the bitch is dead."

Later books in the series suggest that Bond still has feelings for Vesper, however. Fleming's tenth novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service , reveals that Bond makes an annual pilgrimage to Royale-Les-Eaux to visit her grave. In Diamonds Are Forever , Bond skips the song "La Vie En Rose" in Tiffany Case's hotel room "because it has memories for him"; this is a song closely associated with Vesper in Casino Royale. In the novel Goldfinger , when Bond has been poisoned and believes he is about to enter heaven, he worries about how to introduce Tilly Masterton, who he believes has died along with him, to Vesper.

Film biography

1967

In the 1967 version of Casino Royale , Lynd was portrayed by Ursula Andress, who had portrayed another Bond girl, Honey Ryder, in the 1962 film version of Dr. No . [3]

In this version, which bore little resemblance to the novel, Vesper is depicted as a former secret agent who has since become a multi-millionaire with a penchant for wearing ridiculously extravagant outfits at her office ("because if I wore it in the street people might stare"). Bond (David Niven), now in the position of M (John Huston) at MI6, uses a discount for her past due taxes to bribe her into becoming another 007 agent, and to recruit baccarat expert Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) into stopping Le Chiffre (Orson Welles).

Vesper and Tremble have an affair, during which she eliminates Miss Goodthighs (Jacqueline Bisset), an enemy agent sent to seduce Tremble. Ultimately, however, she betrays Tremble to Le Chiffre and SMERSH, declaring to Tremble, "Never trust a rich spy" before killing him with a machine gun hidden inside a bagpipe. She presumably does this for the same reason she does in the novel, as she remarks that it isn't for money but for love. Though her ultimate fate is not revealed in the film, in the closing credits she is shown as an angel playing a harp, showing her to be one of the "seven James Bonds at Casino Royale" killed by an atomic explosion.

Eon films

In the 2006 film version of Casino Royale, Vesper Lynd is a foreign liaison agent from the HM Treasury's Financial Action Task Force assigned to make sure that James Bond, newly promoted to MI-6's 00 Section, adequately manages the funds provided by MI6 to bankrupt Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a money manager for several terrorist groups. Upon meeting for the first time, Vesper and Bond size each other up, and each deduce that the other is an orphan. Vesper is initially skeptical about Bond's ego and at first is unwilling to pretend to be his girlfriend to distract the other players at the high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament hosted by Le Chiffre. However, she assists Bond when Lord's Resistance Army leader Steven Obanno (Isaach de Bankolé) attacks him, knocking a gun out of Obanno's hand and giving Bond the chance to kill him and his bodyguards.

She retreats to the shower afterwards, wracked with guilt, feeling she has blood on her hands from helping to kill Obanno. Bond sits next to her in the shower and comforts her by kissing the "blood" off her fingers, and they return to the casino. His kindness does not prevent her from doing her job, however; she refuses to bankroll him after he loses his table stakes to Le Chiffre. Shortly afterwards, Vesper saves Bond's life when he is poisoned by Le Chiffre's girlfriend, Valenka (Ivana Miličević); Bond struggles unsuccessfully to connect a key wire to the defibrillator in his car and enters cardiac arrest, but Vesper arrives in time to connect the wire properly, enabling the machine to revive him. [1] [3]

After Bond wins the tournament, Le Chiffre kidnaps Vesper, and Bond gives chase. They fall into Le Chiffre's trap and are tortured by him and his thugs, but are saved by the mysterious Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who shoots and kills Le Chiffre for losing his organisation's money. [4]

While both are hospitalised to recover, Bond and Vesper fall in love, and Bond plans to resign from MI6 to be with her. As in the novel, Bond and Vesper go on vacation to Venice, both of them hoping to start a new life. Unknown to Bond, however, Vesper embezzles the tournament winnings and intends to deliver them to Adolph Gettler (Richard Sammel), who (like his novel counterpart) has been spying on them since they arrived in Venice.

When Bond receives a timely phone call from MI6 chief M (Judi Dench) and realises that Vesper embezzled the money, he pursues her as Gettler takes her hostage and throws her in a caged elevator. Bond kills Gettler and his thugs, but in the process causes the building to flood and start sinking. After apologising to Bond, Vesper locks herself in the elevator just before it plunges into the waters below. Bond frantically tries to save her life, but in a final gesture, she kisses Bond's hands as if to absolve him of guilt and lets herself drown. Bond finally extricates her and unsuccessfully attempts to revive her.

As in the novel, Bond copes with Vesper's death by denouncing her as a traitor. M tells Bond that the organisation behind Le Chiffre had kidnapped Vesper's boyfriend and threatened to kill him unless she became their spy. She then tells him that Vesper had made a deal with the kidnappers: the money in exchange for Bond's life. When Bond opens Vesper's mobile phone left in their Venice hotel room, he discovers her note for him with Mr. White's phone number which enables Bond to track down and confront him at the film's end.

In the 2008 film Quantum of Solace , Vesper's boyfriend, Yusef Kabira (Simon Kassianides), is revealed to be an agent of Quantum, the terrorist organisation behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White. Kabira seduces high-ranking female agents of the world's intelligence agencies, and is then "kidnapped" by Quantum, who threatens to kill him unless they become double agents. This information vindicates Vesper in Bond's eyes, as he realises that her betrayal was not her fault. He does not kill Kabira, but leaves him to MI6 and tells M that she was right about Vesper. As Bond walks away, he drops Vesper's necklace in the snow. [5]

In the 2015 film Spectre , following Mr. White's suicide, Bond finds a VHS video tape in his hotel room in Morocco labelled "Vesper Lynd Interrogation". Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), whose worldwide criminal organisation SPECTRE is the power behind Quantum, gloats that he is indirectly responsible for Vesper's death.

At the beginning of the 2021 film No Time To Die , Bond and his lover Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) are in Matera, and Swann suggests Bond should visit Vesper's grave so he can finally let her go. When he visits Vesper's grave, he says "I miss you," and burns a note reading, "forgive me".

The character of Vesper Lynd does not appear in the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale. Instead, the character was replaced by a new character named Valerie Mathis (Linda Christian), who is depicted as an American. She also betrays Bond (Barry Nelson), but comes to his rescue after he is shot by Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre). Valerie does not die in this adaptation.

Related Research Articles

Q (<i>James Bond</i>) Fictional character from the James Bond franchise

Q is a character in the James Bond films and novelisations. Q is the head of Q Branch, the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service charged with oversight of top secret field technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SPECTRE</span> Fictional organisation in the James Bond franchise

SPECTRE is a fictional organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, as well as films and video games based in the same universe. Led by criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld, SPECTRE first formally appeared in the novel Thunderball (1961) and in the film Dr. No (1962). The international organisation is not aligned with any nation or political ideology, enabling the later Bond books and Bond films to be regarded as somewhat apolitical. The presence of former Gestapo members in the organization can be considered as a sign of Fleming's warnings about Nazi fugitives after the Second World War, as first detailed in the novel Moonraker (1954). In the novels, SPECTRE begins as a small group of criminals, but in the films it is depicted as a vast international organisation with its own SPECTRE Island training base capable of replacing the Soviet SMERSH.

M is a codename held by a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond book and film series; the character is the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service for the agency known as MI6. Fleming based the character on a number of people he knew who commanded sections of British intelligence. M has appeared in the novels by Fleming and seven continuation authors, as well as appearing in twenty-four films. In the Eon Productions series of films, M has been portrayed by four actors: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown, Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes, the incumbent; in the two independent productions, M was played by John Huston, David Niven and Edward Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felix Leiter</span> Fictional character in the James Bond books and films

Felix Leiter is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond books, films, and other media. The character is an operative for the CIA and Bond's friend. After losing a leg and a hand to a shark attack, Leiter joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The name "Felix" comes from the middle name of Fleming's friend Ivar Bryce, while the name "Leiter" was the surname of Fleming's friend Marion Oates Leiter Charles, the then wife of Thomas Leiter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bond girl</span> Female love interest and/or sidekick of James Bond

A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest, female companion or (occasionally) an adversary of James Bond in a novel, film, or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or sexual puns, such as Plenty O'Toole, Holly Goodhead, or Xenia Onatopp. The female leads in the films, such as Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman, or Eva Green, can also be referred to as "Bond girls". The term Bond girl may also be considered as an anachronism, with some female cast members in the films preferring the designation Bond woman.

<i>Casino Royale</i> (2006 film) James Bond film

Casino Royale is a 2006 spy film, the twenty-first in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the third screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel of the same name. Directed by Martin Campbell from a screenplay by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis, it stars Daniel Craig in his first appearance as Bond, alongside Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, and Jeffrey Wright. In the film, Bond is on assignment to bankrupt terrorism financier Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen) in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Le Chiffre</span> Fictional James Bond villain

Le Chiffre is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel, Casino Royale. On screen Le Chiffre has been portrayed by Peter Lorre in the 1954 television adaptation of the novel for CBS's Climax! anthology television series, by Orson Welles in the 1967 spoof of the novel and Bond film series, and by Mads Mikkelsen in the 2006 film version of Fleming's novel where he is one of two main antagonists, the other being Mr. White.

<i>Casino Royale</i> (1967 film) James Bond spy comedy film

Casino Royale is a 1967 spy parody film originally distributed by Columbia Pictures featuring an ensemble cast. It is loosely based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, the first novel to feature the character James Bond.

<i>Casino Royale</i> (novel) 1953 novel by Ian Fleming, the first James Bond book

Casino Royale is the first novel by the British author Ian Fleming. Published in 1953, it is the first James Bond book, and it paved the way for a further eleven novels and two short story collections by Fleming, followed by numerous continuation Bond novels by other authors.

<i>Quantum of Solace</i> 2008 James Bond film

Quantum of Solace is a 2008 spy film and the twenty-second in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sequel to Casino Royale (2006). It is directed by Marc Forster and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis. The film stars Daniel Craig as Bond, alongside Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright, and Judi Dench. In the film, Bond teams with Camille Montes (Kurylenko) to stop Dominic Greene (Amalric) from staging a coup d'état in Bolivia to access the country's natural reserves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaken, not stirred</span> James Bond catchphrase

"Shaken, not stirred" is how Ian Fleming's fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond prefers his martini cocktail.

Daniel Kleinman is a British television commercial and music video director who has designed every title sequence for the James Bond series of films since GoldenEye (1995), with the exception of Quantum of Solace (2008). He returned to design the titles for Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vesper (cocktail)</span> Cocktail originally made of gin, vodka and Kina Lillet

The Vesper is a cocktail that was originally made of gin, vodka, and Kina Lillet. Since that form of Lillet is no longer produced, modern bartenders need to modify the recipe to mimic the original taste, with Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano as a typical substitute.

Casino Royale (<i>Climax!</i>) 3rd episode of the 1st season of Climax!

"Casino Royale" is a live 1954 television adaptation of the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. An episode of the American dramatic anthology series Climax!, the show was the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, and stars Barry Nelson, Peter Lorre, and Linda Christian. Though this marks the first onscreen appearance of the secret agent, Nelson's Bond is played as an American spy working for the "Combined Intelligence Agency".

In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 is a field agent who holds a licence to kill in the field, at their discretion, to complete any mission. The novel Moonraker establishes that the section routinely has three agents concurrently; the film series, in Thunderball, establishes a minimum number of nine 00 agents active at that time.

In espionage terminology, honeypot and honey trap are terms for an operational practice involving the use of a covert agent, to create a sexual or romantic relationship to compromise a target. The operator may be a government spy service or organized crime syndicate and the target, or victim, can unwittingly provide intelligence or perform other services for the operator. These situations are a very common trope in spy fiction and media portrayals of female espionage. Variations include same-sex relationships and complications may involve the covert agent falling in love with the target.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Bond (literary character)</span> Fictional spy

Commander James Bond is a character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections. His final two books—The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)—were published posthumously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Bond (reboot series character)</span> Fictional character

James Bond is a fictional character and the titular main protagonist of Eon Productions' rebooted James Bond film series, first introduced in the 2006 film Casino Royale. Portrayed by British actor Daniel Craig, this interpretation of the character, and the actor portraying him, received critical praise for a "caustic, haunted, intense reinvention of 007" – a darker, more realistic tone than the lighter characterizations portrayed in past Bond films.

References

  1. 1 2 DeMichael, Tom (2012). James Bond FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Everyone's Favorite Superspy. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-4803-3786-2.
  2. McCormick, Donald (1993). The Life of Ian Fleming. London, England: Peter Owen Publishers. p. 151. ISBN   978-1448208067.
  3. 1 2 Cawthorne, Nigel (2012). A Brief Guide to James Bond. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN   978-1-84901-829-6.
  4. Pratt, Benjamin (2008). Ian Fleming's Seven Deadlier Sins and 007's Moral Compass. Canton, Michigan: Front Edge Publishing. ISBN   978-1-934879-12-2.
  5. Newby, Richard (4 December 2019). "'No Time to Die' and Finding Closure for Daniel Craig's Bond". The Hollywood Reporter .
Preceded by Bond girl (main sidekick)
in a non-EON Productions movie

1967
Succeeded by
Preceded by Bond girl (main sidekick)
in an EON Productions movie

2006
Succeeded by