The bitch is dead.

J-B-007

The bitch is dead. Remember this sentence? It was said by Bond at the end of the movie when Bond was talking with M and explaining her the situation. Do you think he really meant what he had said or was that just his way of being (showing) unapproachable person. Well, what do you think?

Good day.

John Drake

I think it's Bond's way of trying to move on. It's not that he doesn't care about what happened to Vesper, it's that he knows if he is going to do his job properly, then he has to lock that grief away inside himself and never let it show. It's taken from the novel. I haven't read that for over a decade, but if I remember correctly, Bond finds her dead body and a suicide note explaining her betrayal. Bond seems angrier when he says 'The bitch is dead,' in the novel, because his reaction is a mixture of anger and grief. (Anybody who knows the novel better than I do can correct me. I'm going by memory here.) I think in the film it's different. He's thought about it and he knows what he has to do now. I think M tells Bond that something like that was the lesson he needed to learn. I really like that scene between the two of them. I think it works really well.

Smoke_13

John Drake wrote:

I think it's Bond's way of trying to move on. It's not that he doesn't care about what happened to Vesper, it's that he knows if he is going to do his job properly, then he has to lock that grief away inside himself and never let it show.

Nice job Drake, you summed up my thoughts on that part of the film 100%. It was obvious to me that Bond still loved Vesper when he pulled her from the water and tried to give her CPR. The look on his face when he realized she was dead said it all. He was certainly one mentally and emotionally messed up human being at that point in time.

JADE66

In the novel Casino Royale "The bitch is dead now" was the final line. Bond was angry at having been fooled, shocked by Vesper's suicide in her hotel room, and of course, he's grief-stricken. Though the suicide happens in a different context in the movie, it has much the same impact. After this, Bond hardens himself. He is not nearly as vulnerable as he was. He would not be this vulnerable again until he falls in love with Tracy in OHMSS. If Vesper had not died Bond could not be Bond. It is this
hardness, this shell he creates around himself after Vesper's death, that permits him to function. When Tracy dies, he is almost destroyed. Read Fleming's novel "You Only Live Twice" to see just how badly Bond can be hurt when he lets his guard down.-{

Veguro

"He saw her now only as a spy. Their love and his grief were relegated to the boxroom of his mind. Later, perhaps they would be dragged out, dispassionately examined, and then bitterly thrust back with the other sentimental baggage he would rather forget. Now he could only think of her treachery to the Service and to her country, and of the damage it had done.

This, to me, implies that he wants to forget their love, as he only views her now as a traitor. I'm sure the anger and betrayal (and, I'm sure, self hatred for being betrayed) pushed those feelings away from him.

However, in the OHMSS novel, it is revealed that he yearly travels to Royale le Eaux (the location of the Casino in the novel) yearly to visit her grave.

Gassy Man

It's a powerful line in the book, much less so in the film, as it's rather glossed over. I would have preferred it delivered with more emphasis -- one of only two lines in the film I thought were delivered not quite right.

Loeffelholz

I think this line predominantly disappoints the moviegoers whose frame of reference is the novel. For the legions who've never cracked a Fleming book (for shame! ), it's more jarring than it is for many of the rest of us, who closed the book---after reading this final line---and were stunned by it.

In the movie (as Gassy indicated), it's merely a line spoken in the middle of a scene crafted for expository summation.

Fleming generally ended his books with a strong sentence, just as he generally began them with one. I think he was wise to let the reader absorb this line...and form his/her own conclusions about Bond's method of rationalization.

dimch

Perhaps this line could be adopted by all men who have been spurned by their ex-lovers?

darenhat

In the novel, the line is given extra gravitas because it is the final sentence. Like the novel, Bond's emotions 'stop' at that point. The reader is basically left with an unsatisfied emotion which helps them sympathize with the character. I felt CR would have benefited greatly it they were able to end the film with the audience feeling the same way as Bond.

darenhat

Fish1941 wrote:

Are you saying that the movie should have ended with the line, "The bitch is dead", like the novel? Why? I don't see why it should.

It could have been done...but certainly not the way the line was given in CR currently. I simply feel that, where the novel ended on a downbeat, the film tried to end on an upbeat. For me, that's not the CR I was expecting. OHMSS, as jarring as the end may have been for a Bond film, it's lauded for being a strong adaptation of the novel, and for correctly emphasizing Bond's nature and situation.

Smoke_13

Bond's phone call to HQ at the end of Casino Royale.(The Novel)...

"This is 007 speaking. This is an open line. It's an emergency. Can you hear me? Pass this on at once. 3030 (Vesper) was a double, working for Redland.
'Yes, dammit I said "was". The bitch is dead now.'

Before this moment, (in the novel) Bond had filed a report to HQ and softened a lot of his opinion regarding how inept he actually felt Vesper actually was -because he loved her. Yes, when Vesper killed herself he felt grief, and he felt anger for her betrayal not just to him but to country as well.

However, I think it would be remiss if we also didnt also recognize Bond as an agent who at the time was very eager to gain the approval of M. I feel "The bitch is dead" was also uttered by Bond becasue he felt that he had to appear completely detached from Vesper in the eyes of his superiors. What better way to pass it off than to refer to her in such a derrogatory manner.

-Anyway, my final point is this; Yes, the movie uses the same line as the book. But in it's cinematic use it certainly does not have the impact nor does it open the door for interperative debate as much as it does when it's used in the novel.

MyrddinMerlino

dimch wrote:

Perhaps this line could be adopted by all men who have been spurned by their ex-lovers?

No, because not all ex lovers die.

superado

Dalton as Prince Barin in Flash Gordon, saying, "Lying Bitch!" in a way sold me when they announced him as Bond because of the CR line.

blueman

Hard to fault CR the film for ending with "Bond...James Bond." If you gotta do it, then that's the way to go IMO.

Johmss

well, (long time no post)

when you read the line, i don't know how do you feel about Bond, but you Sympathise about Vesper... She is a bitch, and that's all.

In the movie however, Bond says it (just for saying it) and maybe if other was the line or the -help me here... the tone(?)- you could believe it, but then M comes and says, "no Bond, she happens to be a hero because she saved you because she loved you", like saying hey, don't bitch her, she doesn't deserve it... and you believe that. No, Vesper did love Bond (hence she suicide herself) but Bond apparently hate her not for betray him but for let him alone. it should be otherwise.

that line had to be believable, is meant to be felt, not to say it because is a curse word and the last line in the book. In fact, i thought that should be the last line... until i saw the last line... it can't get better that that one.