The one thing, though, that made the movie so much more interesting was Vesper's character. It felt like the any other action-packed 007 movie except with a different
and cleverly designed action scenes up until the point where I saw the scene with Vesper and JB on the train. She seemed like a really interesting character and was a mystery to me throughout the whole movie as much as she was for Bond (I guess that's because the movie is suppose to be from Bond's point of view?).
Ever since seeing the movie (especially the drowning scene), it really bugged me that I didn't know what was really going on inside Vesper's head. In fact, I don't know why I'm so into this movie (and Vesper), but it's all I can think about and I can't wait 2 years for the next movie. I have so many unanswered questions that I tried to find the answers to here on the forums and the internet, but most still remain unanswered. So I thought I'd post the questions I have (as well as what information I have gathered about it - sorry about not giving credit to the posters who helped with the information. I'm going off the top of my head of what I saw on the forum and don't remember where or who posted the information) and hopefully many of you will be able to figure the answers out or at least help since a lot of posters here seem to not just have read the book, but also know a lot of background on bond books and movies. Oh, and I know the book and film aren't exactly the same, but since the film is based of the book, I'm sure some of the film stuff can be explained from the book.
1. When did Vesper Lynd get blackmailed? Before meeting with Bond on the train or at the torture scene or perhaps at a different part of the movie?
I could be wrong, but I believe that it was before her meeting with Bond on the train . One reason is because she refused to give him the 5 million dollars to get back into the poker games. If she wasn't being blackmailed yet, she could have refused because she didn't want to give Le Chiffre/terrorists any more money, but it'd be more likely that she'd risk 5 million dollars to have a chance at bankrupting Le Chiffre (plus she saw that Bond was really good at reading people - like Le Chiffre's bluffing tell - so Bond would have a good chance to win the 2nd attempt). However, I think she didn't give him the money because she was being blackmailed to help Le Chiffre win and keep Bond out of the games. Keeping bond out and handicapping him from the game however she could was probably the reason she was used by the unknown organisation. so, she was most likely blackmailed right after Le Chiffre made plans for the poker game (meaning before she met Bond on the train).
Another reason that makes me believe she was already blackmailed from the beginning was that she and Mathis were the only possible people to know about he tracker implanted in Bond's left arm and tell the bad guys about it. No where in the movie do we see a scene where Mathis could have known about the tracker, but Vesper could have. The part where Vesper revives Bond after he was poisoned was the only opportunity in the movie for her to know about the tracker in his arm since she saw the gadget(the cell phone?) plugged into his arm (and him unplugging/sucking on the wound where the tracker was) and that he was talking to someone on the phone. She must have put two and two together to figure out a tracker was in his arm.
2. Why did Vesper act superior and condescending to Bond up until he was recovering from the torture? Then she acted like she totally in to him out of nowhere, why? The she's all lovely-dovey with him?
Her actions confused me a bit but after some thought I have a few theories for the motives behind her actions. Since the first meeting with Bond until the torture scene, she seemed to be a bit condescending. I think she was trying to bring down Bond's spirit and make him doubt his plans would succeed. Or maybe she had a prejduce of him being an egotistical killing-machine. Or perhaps she's just feeling superior and arrogant, and teasing him around for fun.
Then after the torture scene, while bond is recovering, she says "And you can have me anywhere." This is the point of the movie where she just turns completely around and starts flirting with him. I read a theory somewhere on these boards that she was probably just trying to seduce him for the password because she promised Mr. White the money back during the torture. (I don't think she fell in love with him yet. The whole thing M said about her saving his life by trading the money was probably purposly wrong - M's explanation was probably just to help Bond feel better . Vesper was dispensable to the unknown organisation because all she was used for was for helping Le Chiffre win the poker game. When Le Chiffre lost, she was dispensable to the organisation as well as Le Chiffre (which explains why her life was risked when she was placed on the road infront of Bond's car). Since she was now worthless to the orgnisation, she made a deal of getting the password & money from Bond as long as keeping Bond, as well as her, alive. Basically, she had little or no feelings for Bond at the point of torture and M made it look like Vesper loved Bond when Vesper was only trying to save her own butt).
However, her feelings appeared to have changed when she learned the password was VESPER. I say this because of the look on her face and how she told him about him being more man than everyone even if he had just his little finger and a smile left. She probably first didn't think much of him when they met. Then as she saw how strong, brave, smart, etc. he was by winning the poker game, beating the bad guys, and the shower scene (this showed her his vulnerable/caring side - w/o his "armor" on). This built some more interest but nothing strong. Then when she found out the password, she slowly started falling for him because the password revealed Bond's "armorless" side and that he thought/cared about her. Then his little romantic sentences of how he was all hers, that he wanted to save what's left of his soul for her, and that he told her he loved her must have made some big impacts on her and made her fall in love. (I think though the movie was just rushing/cutting out a lot of the love build-up due to the long length the movie. The book had conversations of them at the hospital that made her fall in love wasn't it?)
3. Why did Vesper fall in love with Bond? and why did Bond fall in love with Vesper?
I don't think anyone can really answer this since it's more of a personal thing only the characters would know, but I think I took a really good shot at the first part of the question in my answer to the previous question.
As for Bond falling in love with Vesper, I believe he found her stunning beautiful (the scene of where he stares at her from the poker table is one example) and enigmatic (I suppose she was enigmatic not because she was a complex person. She was only complicated at that time because of her circumstances. She was living two lives - the spy/traitor and the accoutant. Kind of ironic...he falls in love with her for her enigma and yet her enigma is just caused by the betrayal which makes him hate her). Eva Green even comments several times about her character, Vesper, being loved by Bond for her enigma.
Edit: She also was the one who stripped off his armor and got him to be more human & less apathetic to his killings.
4. What was Vesper's plan at the end? What was she going to do about her b/f? With the money? etc.
This is a hard question that I'm not sure about. My theory is that she was going to drop off the money in hopes that the unknown organisation would let her live and leave her alone with bond. However, she knew that she'd just be going to her death (hence the long, passionate kiss she gives Bond before going off to the bank) as metioned by M in the conversation at the end of the movie. This explains why she left her phone and the text message of Mr. White's phone number (to track it like he did with the terrorist) for James. She wanted him to find Mr. White and figure things out as a revenge plan on stopping the unknown organisation for what they did to her and other innocent people.
As for her boyfriend, I don't know what she was going to do about him. Perhaps she knew that once she became dispensable again to Mr. White and the organisation, they would end up killing her for knowning too much instead of letting her and her boyfriend go. Plus her boyfriend was probably never going to be free anyway or might have already been killed by then.
5. Why did she kill herself?
This question seems has really stomped a lot of people out. The hard part is that there are a ton of different possibilty of reasons as well as a certain combination of the reasons. I doubt anyone knows the answer for certain. Hopefully, the writers left her reasoning out on purpose and will explain everything clearly in the next movie. I would really like to get everyone's theory on this, though.
If I had to guess though, it would probably be related to the previous question's answer. She could not go on living knowing that she would never get her boyfriend free, Bond would no longer love her back because of her betrayal, and her guilt/shame of betraying her country and getting all the people killed during her blackmailing. With the building collapsing around her and with Bond staring her in the face, she must have lost all hope and felt like everything had gone wrong in her life, so she wanted a way out.
6. What is with the text message at the end that reads "For James: Mr White..."? How did Vesper send the text message to her own phone if she was the one who left? Did she just send it to herself because it says "New Message" as if someone sent it to her instead of the message just being stored on the phone? There was no "From:" portion of the message, so did she really recieve the message or what?
This stupid little issue has been bugging me. Maybe it's just a movie mistake. Though, it was most likely that Vesper just sent the message to herself and the "From:" part was missing because bond scrolled down or something so it didn't fit on the screen.
7. Did Vesper leave her phone back at the bedroom on purpose?
I would have to say yes. First, it is discussed in the end during the conversation between Bond and M. Second, it fits into the theory in the answer to question 4.
8. Just curious...during the drowning scene, when Vesper was putting her face against Bond's hands, why did she get forced back to the back-side of the elevator all of a sudden?
It was kind of weird that that happened. I think she had run out of air and swallowed water, causing her to sink. Since the elevator was tilted, the other side of the elevator that she was at was at the bottom. It's possible that she could have pushed herself back, but the look of surprise on her face and the scream indicate that theory unlikely. Also, it could have been a strong current that hit her, but again, I doubt it since there weren't any signs of strong currents/waves.
(By the way, that's one of the saddest scenes I've ever seen in a movie. The look on her face when she was looking left toward Bond at first, before she held his hands, was so sad. It radiated so much of her emotion and pain. It was like she was trying to be strong and expressionless, but I could see sadness for losing Bond and pity for him trying so hard to save her. The horrible moment where she reaches out with her right hand and has a horrifying look on her face; it was like she wanted to say goodbye one last time. It's so hard to get that scene out of my head. It was some of the best acting I've ever seen.)
***Few Notes***(FYI):
By the way, Vesper really was tortured by Le Chiffre's men because someone mentioned that she has some kind of splynth/bandages on her left hand during the Bond's recovery scene (she was wearing the green dress) where Mandles visits for the password. I watched the movie again and noticed it barely, too. It's kind of hard to see because she doesn't show her left hand very much during that scene.
Also, people have been saying that Vesper stops wearing her love-knot necklace after she falls in love with Bond. I went back to watch the movie for it and noticed that the only time she didn't wear the necklace was in the last few scenes beginning from the time she puts on the red dress before going to the bank until the time she dies.
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I hope these answers help everyone figure out the questions that have risen from this movie. Please feel free to add to/debate the answers or just comment on them. I wanna hear what you guys think, good or bad.
Edited by ralawar, 06 January 2007 - 02:11 AM.
