Second, this motivation issue comes to the fore with the Bond/Tracy relationship. One moment Bond tells Tracy to put her clothes on and leave, and the next moment he tells her that she's, "the most extraordinary girl".The montage seems like an act of desparation. Since these two characters have no reason to be in love, and since the writers and the director can't explain to us why they should fall in love, we simply get to see them falling in love, and we simply have to accept that what they're saying to each other during the bits of that montage somehow allow them to get to know each other and care for each other, etc. It didn't convince me, certainly not in the way that CR convinced me that Bond had fallen for Vesper.
You must try explain how the Bond-Vesper relationship works for you, then.
Meeting No. 1: she takes the piss out of Bond by telling him he's an arrogant, emotionless thug.
Scene No. 2: Bond explains he doesn't fancy Vesper anyway 'cos he's emotionally stunted and onlymarried women.
Scene No. 3: Vesper humiliates Bond by buying him a Brioni evening suit, explaining it is superior to his own. Clearly, this is nothing more than a play for superiority in the partnership as it is plain Bond has taste in sophisticated clothing already as HE'S BEEN CLAD HEAD TO FOOT IN BRIONI SINCE HE AND VESPER MET!!!!
Scene No. 4: For no apparent reason, Bond decides to go listen in on Le Chiffre, taking Vesper with him, which then allows him to give her comfort in the shower in a scene that surpasses any of the cheese of the All The Time In The World montage.
Various Gambling Scenes: Bond plays cards, wins, does Vesper suddenly get all school-girl giddy as a consequence???? Bond begs her for extra cash; she turns him down, belittles him. She restarts his heart; again, is this the reason all the crap above suddenly turns to love???
Lastly: Bond almost gets his balls chopped off for Vesper. Is this the metaphor for all the above suddenly being discounted and Bond growing from a stunted action-thug into a man of deep caring and emotion, and Vesper from "Daddy Wanted a Little Boy" man-hater into soft, soppy love interest?
No, Vesper never convinces she is one to be loved. She remains what she is. A bitch.
Good post, DS! I see where you are coming from. In fact, when I watch CR, I tend to feel very angry at Vesper right around the time LeChiffre cleans Bond out, knowing what I know about her. I usually think that myself, "that
ing bitch!". I'm not sure how much I buy Vesper falling for Bond, but I do buy Bond falling for Vesper. Let me explain my reasons:Unlike most other Bond films (OHMSS included), CR gives Bond a character arc. He starts off seeming very cold and driven. He's callous about killing, only has flings with married women, and shows no emotion when Solange is tortured to death because of his actions. He claims that none of this affects him in any way, but one of the themes of the film is that Bond wears a mask (or 'armor', as Vesper puts it) to present to the world. I get the sense that he secretly views himself as damaged goods, morally and spiritually. Craig's Bond is in no danger of deflowering anyone's innocent teenage daughter. He deliberately chooses a grubby line of work, and he only carries on adulterous relationships, which by their nature are fairly grubby.
So, I wouldn't believe Bond falling in love with Vesper if she WASN'T a bit of a bitch. I can't imagine Craig's Bond in CR showing any interest at all in Domino Derval, Melina Havelock, Stacey Sutton, Kara Milovy or the like. They're to close to being the kind of women you take home to meet mother. Vesper is herself damaged goods, and Bond senses this in their first meeting. Vesper is a lot like Bond. She also has armor hiding turbulent emotions, and she's even an orphan like Bond. I think at first Bond is intrigued by her simply in the, "I'd like to find out more about this woman" sense.
As for the scene where Bond listens in on LeChiffre, I agree that Bond's motivations are unclear and that the scene primarily exists to move the plot. However, I don't share your cynical view about it because Vesper doesn't magically fall in love with Bond just because Bond saves her from a situation he himself got her into. The filmmakers could have gone that route - it would have been very easy, but very unbelievable. I don't think the scene has much to do with Vesper. It has to do with Bond. Bond wants to listen in on LeChiffre for whatever reason (perhaps to hear any strategy LeChiffre has planned at the card table). He coldly brings Vesper along as cover ("see, I'm just out strolling and snogging with my girlfriend!"). After the fight scene is over and he gets back to the room, he realizes how upset she is, and he feels morally responsible for her. He's not in love with her, but she's not just a disposable commodity anymore. When Bond rashly goes after LeChiffre with a dinner knife, he tells Mathis to, "get the girl out". Bond is now becoming the Bond we know from many other movies, who tells the villain to "let the girl go, and we'll double whatever they're paying you".
So, combine that state of affairs with Vesper saving Bond's life and losing her reserve in his presence ("if all that was left of you was your smile . . ."), and I can understand Bond falling in love with Vesper. The two of them have been through a lot together (or so he thinks), and she's warming to him and seems to genuinely care about him (which can't but help him view himself as more than just a licensed killer - "maybe there is some good left in me" he might think to himself).
As for Vesper, I'm not sure if she loves Bond, but she does seem to care for him. She certainly does come across as bitchy, but that's understandable given her position. She's in love with a French-Algerian whose life she thinks is being threatened by Quantum. Quantum tells her even before she meets Bond that she will have to betray him, so she's hardly going to want to cozy up to him right away (she be more of a bitch if she did pretend to like him at first). She can't give Bond more money, even if she'd personally like to. She's torn between her boyfriend and Quantum on the one hand, and her increasing feeling for Bond on the other. The fact that she saves Bond from being killed by Quantum speaks volumes to me. She'll get them their money, but she won't let them kill Bond if she can help it.
By contrast, I can't buy Bond falling for Tracy at all in OHMSS. Perhaps he does feel altruistic enough to help her, but as he tells Draco, "what she needs is a psychiatrist". And Tracy acts even more irritatingly than Vesper, and without Vesper's secret motivations to account for her behavior. Bond saves her life and her reputation at the casino, and so she thanks him by threatening him with his gun. Bond shows up at her father's birthday party and shows an interest in her, so she deliberately sabotages the proceedings and runs off and cries. And then Bond, having gotten what he was really after, chases after her for no discernable reason. Perhaps he feels a gentlemanly duty towards her at that moment, but he's clearly not in love with her. As soon as the montage ends he's in Gumbold's office picking up Blofeld's trail and smirking at Playboy magazines. Then he's off to Piz Gloria to seduce the girls at the clinic. Partly this is no doubt to find out more about them and thus Blofeld's plans for them, but Bond takes a real joy in how his work is "piling up". Tracy is totally forgotten until she reappears as a deux ex machina at the skating rink and helps Bond escape. And for this very generous but very simple service of saving Bond's skin (something Honey Ryder, Tatiana Romanova, Domino Derval and Aki had all done before), Bond not only develops feeling for Tracy but proposes marriage to her.
