your view on Eva Green
mattdonns
Posts: 2MI6 Agent
Hello i am an A-level student and i am studying media with casino royale as one of my main pieces of coursework.. my basis is how female representations have changed and they are a more intergrated character i.e not just strong or beatiful and powerful like femme fatales or ripley in alien3. It would be a help if i got some of your views on eva greens character and how she progresses throughout the film, thankyou
Comments
She reminds me slightly of Carol Bouquet in FYEO, but only in looks and attitude.
She is a throwback to the women in earlier films. Quite the opposite of Wai Lin, Xenia, and other Brosnan-era women.
Later in the film, she is confident without being arrogant, and her guard is down somewhat, and with that, the "prickly" demeanor subsides.
Unlike the usual "sex kitten" Green's charecter has intelligence to rival Bond's. She has courage and is not afraid to look oo7 in the eyes and tell him "NO!", or voice a contrary opinion.
In the latter part of the film it becomes clear Vesper is hiding something. Her secrets are never revealed while she is alive, so her ultimate motivation, and the extent of her betrayl of Bond is never really clear which adds to the mystery of her charecter.
The actress does a remarkable job of showing us a person who is trying to find a way out of an impossible situtation, she is clearly over her head in the world of killing and espionage. It appears she ultimately makes the bad choice of trying to "forget" a past which is chasing her like a freight train.
Green's looks were beliveable, not the bimbo-like overstuffed models atypical of the oo7 series - all of which adds to her credibility. In all I found her charecter unique in the Bond series of films and worthy of the title of "the woman who broke his heart."
As the charecter of Vesper proceeds through the film I would say she is "revealed" more than "evolved". Vesper is a combination of great writing and acting, not often found in any film, much less a Bond opus!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
She shows up pretty late in the movie. The idea that Bond is desperate to save her life as she turns away from him at the end, a tragic figure, is v appealing to women I imagine. Certainly Craig isn't patronising to her at all, unlike his previous incarnations, his rogueish womanising spirit is seen as something to be 'reformed' in a learning arc, or softenened at least, rather than indulged or celebrated as in former Bonds. There's no 'victory' for him in this one, unless it's the 'victory' of having his overall character transformed by a woman, which doesn't really happen in the other films.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Don't forget the "dirty feet"!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
You're such an *ssh*le.
The curious thing about this topic, is that all of Fleming's female characters were written about fifty years ago, when attitudes were different. IMO a lot of Fleming's female characters were 'human' and had depth. Some of their quirky attributes were founded in the characters experience (Honey Ryder's 'nature girl' comes to mind in Dr. No.)
However, the on-screen persona of these characters has changed to match the times. Little emphasis or credence was given to female character perspectives in the early films. In DN, When Bond chided Honey for killing the man who raped her with a black widow spider seemed a bit of a double standard coming from a man with a licence to kill. In the 2006 version of CR, Lynd is portrayed as not only an equal to Bond, but she was downright antagonistic at the beginning. This was not an attitude which was prevalent in the books. She was aloof, but not embittered at Bond. Here we see an instance where justifiable contempt for men is viewed negatively in the sixties cinema, whereas unjustified (at least within the context of the script) contempt for Bond is virtually lauded.
Vesper's elevation in the latest film to an equal and antagonistic character is IMO a complete revelation of the times. Bond movies have always been a target for the sexualization of women, and the change that Vesper's character underwent from the novel to the film, seemed to me to be done out of a sense of reparation rather than one of plot. Ironically, for me, this made the character actually kind of flat and more of a caricature of 'modern' attitudes, rather than a living, breathing individual.
You beat me to that one, 'Shooter :v
My own view on Eva Green is that she's an incredibly attractive, quirky and unconventional beauty---I love that one of her front teeth is slightly uneven with the other :x ---and she makes my list of Top Five Bond Girls of all time.
Good thread. I personally found Eva Green's Vesper to be quite engaging, but would concede darenhat's point (to some degree) about the 'reparation' motivation (on the filmmakers' part) in the way she was depicted: the 'reveal' of the fragile, torn woman beneath the icy facade---camouflaged at first by the 'His Girl Friday'-style patter in her first scene.
That said, I thought that Cinematic Vesper was a largely well-executed compromise between what we got in the novel, and what modern filmmakers deem crucial (right or wrong) to the modern portrayal of 'leading lady' characters. The 'old-style' Bond girl is pretty much gone, but the 'bird with a wing down' motif will likely recur from time to time.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
When I wrote my comments, I was thinking about the movie Vesper as opposed to the book charecter. It's very apparent that Fleming's female charecters are traditional for the day and age they were written in, but Fleming had a unique way of writing women, and while traditional he also managed to work in that "quirky" quality that makes them far more interesting than his competitors writings.
Just look at TSWLM novel, however it turned out, its clear that IF took a big chance with that novel... literally getting into a woman's head to write it. The result while not perfect shows that IF was not a "male chavanist pig", but someone who was really interested in developing his female charecters. One can easily argue he was not sucessful, since it was the only novel IF himself demanded "not" be made into a movie (that's a pity too).
The CR'06 Vesper is not really a Fleming take, but I would say is more an homage to the "Hitchcock" female lead, strong but mysterious. While the sensual nature of Hitchcocks females was more "restrained" - something IF would enjoy - Vesper's "quirky" nature is brought out in her clothing and make-up rather than the interior monologue of the novel.
I think Bond falls for the film Vesper because she stands up to him as a person in her own right, she is not just a Bimbo - like Solange. Bond is also attracted to the vulnerability she shows when confronted with the ugly aspects of his life. DC's orphan Bond respects the "mother figure" and takes his leads from "M" and Vesper. After all it is Vesper who suggests Bond quit his job - and Bond goes along for a rather bumpy and unhappy "ride".
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
An anaylsis of Vesper Lynd - By Thunderbird 2.
...The writing of Vesper Lynd, coupled with Eva Green's potrayal of the character truely brings the concept of the Bond leading lady into the 21st Century. Vesper is neither the bra burning feminist woman villan seen in the earlier films, nor the emasculating ice queen boss that M was when introduced in Goldeneye, a character who was seen in that film as a real threat as Bond's superior, something the dialogue made clear from the off. (That relationship has been developed well in part no doublt to Dame Judi Dench's excellent chemistry with Pierce Brosnan and now Daniel Craig.)
The character of Vesper breaks convention by coming from outside Bonds world of espionage. A treasury offical, she is not someone who has lived in a world of death and destruction, but she is a woman of a modern 21st century world, with mixed shades of gray. - Bond himself underlines this point when he snaps at Vesper how high the stakes are, after she tells him he can't have the remaining treasury money due to his recklessness. - If Le'Chiffre wins, he will continue to fund the killing of countless people. In simple terms that cannot be allowed to happen. - Black and white!
Secondly, Vesper is in many ways Bonds female equal. When they first meet on the train she makes it clear he can try as hard as he likes to impress her, it won't wash, and she sizes up his back story (quite accurately)in two seconds flat. The verbal banter between the two makes it clear she is often a step or two ahead of Bond. - Tragically it becomes clear why at the end of the film. She WAS several steps ahead of him all along. Vesper gives Bond the distrustful edge he needs to become the man we know, as well as the key lead he needs even after she dies. Vesper's betrayal is irroncially essential to Bond seeing the world in the way he has to to survive. Underlined by M. - Now Bond knows he can't trust anyone, he is the 00 agent M knows she can send off to do what needs to be done, without making a hash of it, as demonstrated earlier in the film before he met Vesper. - Leading to what we will see in Quantum of Solace.
The writing of the characters is what makes a story work, but in this case Eva Green's slightly aloof, indifferent and vulnerable potrayal of Vesper is what makes it succeed. The woman Bond falls in love with has to be something exceptional, and Vesper is. In the actress's own words "Vesper is like the Sphynx. Enegmantic, mysterious." - We don't really know whats going on with her, and we see her react in different ways. Enegmatic, ****ed off and terrified. The stairwell fight in the hotel is truely graphic, but those of us who know Bonds world from the books and films are used to this sort of thing. However when Vesper goes into automatic mode after Bond kills the two "investors" we see her start to wake up to the horro of what Bonds life is like. This culminates in the heart reding scene in the shower. - She really hadn't bargined on things getting this out of hand right in front of her. - There is a cold irrony in the fact its Bond that comforts her, and she welcomes that comfort, as she was the man who commited the killings she is accessory to. Again the closing scenes put a fresh perspective on this, - she could see her Algerian boyfriend meeting the same fate reflected in those deaths.
All of this shows a multifacted character, with strengths and weaknesses and perhaps most important of all - her own agenda that is not "tacked on" Its there right from the start if you look for it. Eva Green is exceptionally good at using those expressive eyes of hers. Even when Vesper looks out of it in the shower, her eyes having a sad, knowing inteligence. Something reflected in all her scenes.
Casino Royale proved something very important. The most dangerous women in Bond's world aren't the ones that use guns, are built like tanks or have money. Vesper is a women who is capable of being as intelligent, single minded, calculating, carismatic and unstopably dedicated as 007 himself. Its what makes her so damned compelling! I suspect the ghost of Vesper's legacy will continue, not just in Quantum of Solace, but subsiquent films too.
(I hope this helps Mattdonns!) -{
Author's sidenote: - Where are the women like Eva Green in the real "everyday" world?!
Yep, that sums up my thoughts 100%.