23 replies to this topic

[yuta_rule]

I'm a huge fan of Bond/Vesper. It's honestly quite hard for me to get over the fact that their story's pretty much a done deal by the end of QoS (or is it...does anyone know?)
Came back from the movie last night with a friend and we're discussing our thoughts about the ending. So, why did Bond leave the necklace in the snow? Is it his way of gesturing the fact that he has decided to move on, or is it because the necklace's now cheapened and he no longer needs it with him to know remember her? Or both?
And when he congratulated M on her being correct about Vesper, does it refer to the speech she made in CR's final scene when she was talking to Bond? So basically, the point is, Vesper does love Bond and gave up her life for him, or was Bond being sarcastic to M and implying that she got it all so wrong?

Thoughts anyone?

[PPK_19]

Leaving the necklace in the snow is Bond's way of moving on i think. He's found his quantum of solace, and he takes comfort in the fact that Vesper did really love him and give up her life for him, as M said at the end of CR, and Mathis said in QOS. 'I was sorry to hear about Vesper, i think she loved you.'

[MkB]

Seconded.
Besides, the necklace must be a bitter souvenir it's the symbol of Vesper's fall because of Quantum/Yussef. It makes sense for Bond to get rid of it, whatever his feelings for Vesper may be.

[CaptainPower]

Seconded.
Besides, the necklace must be a bitter souvenir it's the symbol of Vesper's fall because of Quantum/Yussef. It makes sense for Bond to get rid of it, whatever his feelings for Vesper may be.

Totally.

[sorking]

I'm a huge fan of Bond/Vesper. It's honestly quite hard for me to get over the fact that their story's pretty much a done deal by the end of QoS (or is it...does anyone know?)
Came back from the movie last night with a friend and we're discussing our thoughts about the ending. So, why did Bond leave the necklace in the snow? Is it his way of gesturing the fact that he has decided to move on, or is it because the necklace's now cheapened and he no longer needs it with him to know remember her? Or both?
And when he congratulated M on her being correct about Vesper, does it refer to the speech she made in CR's final scene when she was talking to Bond? So basically, the point is, Vesper does love Bond and gave up her life for him, or was Bond being sarcastic to M and implying that she got it all so wrong?

Thoughts anyone?

'Both' to the necklace. 'Definitely not 'sarcasm' to M.

[Bureau Of Weapons]

Seconded.
Besides, the necklace must be a bitter souvenir it's the symbol of Vesper's fall because of Quantum/Yussef. It makes sense for Bond to get rid of it, whatever his feelings for Vesper may be.

Totally.

Yup. The necklace was a part of Yusef's blackmailing scam. Although in film narrative it was a very definitive THE END for the audience with regards to the Vesper storyline.

[Aris Kristatos]

I find the ending a bit odd and a bit out of no where to be honest. Maybe im just a tradionalist but he didnt kill the Villain and sleep with the girl. Thats how they all end.

I'm hoping the necklace in the snow indicates the end of the whole Vesper chapter and he can now move on and be a bit more like James Bond.

Dont get me started on having the Gun Barrel sequence at the end, I didnt like that one bit!

[BoogieBond]

Yeah, I liked the ending. Closure for Bond. Ties in with the title. Bond is at piece with himself. M was right, she did love him, ties in with her taking the loveknot off at the end of CR. Bond throws it in the snow as closure, the end, he is ready to move on. Concludes any unfinished business. The gunbarrel just re-emphasises that.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

So Bond is happy with the knowledge that she loves him? By the way, i didn't understood...

a. Corrine's assosiation with the Canadian Secret Service
b. Did James interrogated Yusef?

[MkB]

a. Corrine's assosiation with the Canadian Secret Service

It's not completely explained, but Bond asks her something like "Your're Canadian intelligence, right?" and she nods. So we understand through his speech that she's the Canadian equivalrnt of Vesper, the "weakest link" in the intelligence chain which Quantum intends to break.

b. Did James interrogated Yusef?

Yes. Considerably.
When he comes out of the building, M even asks him if Yussef is still alive. By the way, by this question and her presence on the field, I understand that she "left" Yussef to Bond as a private privilege, with the right to decide what to do with him one squeezed for information. And apparently he decided not to finish him off.

[Aces High]

I found the 'Russian' scene a little bit unpolished.Could have been done a lot better.Some suspence could have been built up,perhaps a little like the assassination of Brad Whittiker in Living Daylights...& as for having M in Russia,come on found that hard to believe.
Also the matter of fact reference to Felix getting the top job.A very poor unthoughful almost tagged on ending.Would have been a lot better if perhaps we could have had some Mr White skullduggery.
Lets hope we get a better script & more action orientated director for Bond 23.Personally give Matthew Vaughn a ring,he did great work with Daniel on Layer Cake...& can keep his camera in focus..oh & best of all ...British!!

[Leon]

Indeed, it's all been explained in various posts above. The necklace was one of probably many copies that Yussef gave to these lower echelon female intelligence agents. Would you keep a necklace of a dead girlfriend that was given to her by an enemy agent? The same man who fundamentally caused her to commit suicide?

Nope. At the end of Quantum of Solace Bond has all of his answers, finds his quantum of solace in the fact that Vesper did care about him and was forced to betray him, but the necklace is not a souvenir he wishes to keep. He discards the necklace along with his emotional torture and desire for answers.

[draxingtonstanley]

Indeed, it's all been explained in various posts above. The necklace was one of probably many copies that Yussef gave to these lower echelon female intelligence agents. Would you keep a necklace of a dead girlfriend that was given to her by an enemy agent? The same man who fundamentally caused her to commit suicide?

Nope. At the end of Quantum of Solace Bond has all of his answers, finds his quantum of solace in the fact that Vesper did care about him and was forced to betray him, but the necklace is not a souvenir he wishes to keep. He discards the necklace along with his emotional torture and desire for answers.

Exactly the way I read it. And what a beautiful shot to end on,the Algerian love knot in the snow. Perfect.

[rafterman]

The end of QoS mirrors the start of CR with him waiting for someone. Dropping the necklace shows he is done with Vesper finally. Placing the gunbarrel at the end shows that he has grown into the Bond we know and love. CR and QoS are two halves of one story. Obviously Quantum and Mr. White will return in the next one, but it can take its time now and not tie up any personal matters for Bond.

[Bureau Of Weapons]

I found the 'Russian' scene a little bit unpolished.Could have been done a lot betterSome suspence could have been built up,perhaps a little like the assassination of Brad Whittiker in Living Daylights...& as for having M in Russia,come on found that hard to believe.
Also the matter of fact reference to Felix getting the top job.A very poor unthoughful almost tagged on ending.Would have been a lot better if perhaps we could have had some Mr White skullduggery.
Lets hope we get a better script & more action orientated director for Bond 23.Personally give Matthew Vaughn a ring,he did great work with Daniel on Layer Cake...& can keep his camera in focus..oh & best of all ...British!!

That wouldn't have worked at all. It was a nice little scene as it was. I don't get the criticism of the script for QOS. It is a masterpiece of understatement. The Yusef scene being one such moment.

[timmyv123]

To be honest I don't get the yusef scene at all. Who is he? Is he an agent working for quantum or was he vespers boyfriend? If so then did he give the necklace to a lot of women hence why the woman with him had a necklace? What i took from that was he was working for quantum and he was using vesper who did really love james but she was forced into it by quantum as they threatened to kill yusef? Is this not what M said at the end of CR which James said she was correct about at the end of qos? I'm confused!!

[Vauxhall]

To be honest I don't get the yusef scene at all. Who is he? Is he an agent working for quantum or was he vespers boyfriend? If so then did he give the necklace to a lot of women hence why the woman with him had a necklace? What i took from that was he was working for quantum and he was using vesper who did really love james but she was forced into it by quantum as they threatened to kill yusef? Is this not what M said at the end of CR which James said she was correct about at the end of qos? I'm confused!!

Yusef was both Vesper's boyfriend and an agent working for Quantum. Yes, he gave the necklace to many women. Your other question is also correct.

[double o ego]

I find the ending a bit odd and a bit out of no where to be honest. Maybe im just a tradionalist but he didnt kill the Villain and sleep with the girl. Thats how they all end.

And this is why the producers should forever ignore fanboys. You clearly failed to pay attention and reason with what was going on in the film. Why would Bond need to kill the bad guy and sleep with the girl? CR and QoS are learning curves for Bond, he's finding his place. Also, he's a spy first before an assasin. Bond learned that he's not supposed to kill everyone who's a bad guy unless he has to (self defence or given orders) Bond extracted info from Yusef and Greene and whereas Yusef has been arrested, Greene on the other hand was left to be punished by Bond by Bond letting him live and without the protection of the CIA or MI6 from Quantum's agents who'd kill him for snitching.
With regards to sleeping with Camille, there was no need. They both had their stories and issues they were going through and there was a mutual respect, where it would have been a poor character move not to mention poor writing from the scriptwriters to have him sleep with Camille. That's what Fields was for. Bond didn't respect Fields. She was a disposable pleasure who unfortunately paid the ultimate price because of him.

This clearly goes to show that, so many people failed to immerse themselves into this rather intelligent thriller of a movie for what it's supposed to be.

I'm hoping the necklace in the snow indicates the end of the whole Vesper chapter and he can now move on and be a bit more like James Bond.

Well duh! That's exactly what it symbolises. Bond at the end found his peace, he even tells M that he has. Now he can move on and not allow himself to make the same mistake he did with vesper ever again (until Tracy came along anyway) But the point is, Bond has found his place, his style and his way of going about doing his job, never allowing himself to get too close to people.

Dont get me started on having the Gun Barrel sequence at the end, I didnt like that one bit!

Fair enough but it was there for a reason and that was to underscore that, now Bond has gotten over Vesper, agent 007 is now here and all of that culminates at the end of QoS. It wasn't put there for the sake of trying to change things, it was put there because it intelligently compliments everything that has happened.

You as a Bond fan clearly had trouble fully comprehending what QoS was all about, so its no wonder the average Joe may think QoS is garbage. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The film makers overestimated the intelligence of the cinema audience this time round. Personally, if people love this film or hate it, that's their business but when lame excuses based on the fact that they clearly didn't get what was going on, that's when things become a joke and an unfortunate potential detriment to the series.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

I find the ending a bit odd and a bit out of no where to be honest. Maybe im just a tradionalist but he didnt kill the Villain and sleep with the girl. Thats how they all end.

And this is why the producers should forever ignore fanboys. You clearly failed to pay attention and reason with what was going on in the film. Why would Bond need to kill the bad guy and sleep with the girl?

I agree. I'm a traditionalist Bond fas like you, Aris, but I was getting annoyed of the "Bond in teh Bed" scenes of The World is not Enough and Die Another Day.

[I never miss]

The end of QoS mirrors the start of CR with him waiting for someone. Dropping the necklace shows he is done with Vesper finally. Placing the gunbarrel at the end shows that he has grown into the Bond we know and love. CR and QoS are two halves of one story. Obviously Quantum and Mr. White will return in the next one, but it can take its time now and not tie up any personal matters for Bond.

An excellent post and one that I (and I suspect Eon would) agree with wholeheartedly.

QoS may be an action-packed Bond film, but in many ways it is one of the subtlest entries in the series. It is this subtlty that, IMHO, will see it recognised as a real Bond classic when reflected on in years to come.

[Captain Tightpants]

The end of QoS mirrors the start of CR with him waiting for someone. Dropping the necklace shows he is done with Vesper finally. Placing the gunbarrel at the end shows that he has grown into the Bond we know and love. CR and QoS are two halves of one story. Obviously Quantum and Mr. White will return in the next one, but it can take its time now and not tie up any personal matters for Bond.

An excellent post and one that I (and I suspect Eon would) agree with wholeheartedly.

QoS may be an action-packed Bond film, but in many ways it is one of the subtlest entries in the series. It is this subtlty that, IMHO, will see it recognised as a real Bond classic when reflected on in years to come.

It could well be that they deliberately put more action into it to highlight the more subtle parts.

[Aces High]

The biggest guff was the fact that 'M' shows up in Russia...NO WAY WOULD that happen.Its about time 'M' stayed in whitehall..afterall M is supposed to be the HEAD of the British Secret Service & not a field agent wandering around the world!

[Blonde Bond]

The ending worked well and there wasn't anything confusing about it. Like people already said, Yusef was both agent for Quantum and the man Vesper and many other fool girls loved. It's the way Quantum rolls. Using this man to get women to betray their country, with excuses that their man was held captive by Quantum and if they didn't do as they were told, their man would catch a bullet.

Also the ending with Bond leaving the loveknot in the snow was very simple to understand. Bond's gotten over her. He knows she loved him, but the knot has no meaning to him, since it was just one of the tools used by Quantum to get the girls hooked. The gunbarrel at the end was a nice touch of wrapping up the two stories. Bond's back, baby!

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

The ending worked well and there wasn't anything confusing about it. Like people already said, Yusef was both agent for Quantum and the man Vesper and many other fool girls loved. It's the way Quantum rolls. Using this man to get women to betray their country, with excuses that their man was held captive by Quantum and if they didn't do as they were told, their man would catch a bullet.

Also the ending with Bond leaving the loveknot in the snow was very simple to understand. Bond's gotten over her. He knows she loved him, but the knot has no meaning to him, since it was just one of the tools used by Quantum to get the girls hooked. The gunbarrel at the end was a nice touch of wrapping up the two stories. Bond's back, baby!

Very good explanation, mate. You solved a few misteries I had about the ending.

BTW, I'm really glad that Bond has thrown the love knot because it was a tool of Quantum to hook the girls. After my first screening I tought Bond thrown the knot to forget Vesper (I wouldn't have liked Bond doing that).