During the past week, I've been frequently thinking about love and concluded that the most recent romantic films, those that were released in the last five years —La La Land comes to mind as the primary example— gave me a bitter aftertaste. A taste of disappointment, because (call me old-fashioned) whenever I see a love story on the big screen I hope for them to end up together and seal their relationship with a kiss during the film's finale. This disappointment made me want to rewatch On Her Majesty's Secret Service and take a closer look at the relationship between James Bond and the woman he married for a short while before his dreams were shattered by the burst of a machine gun: Countess Teresa Di Vicenzo, Tracy for her friends.
The 1969 film, the only appearance of George Lazenby as 007, shows us an exclusive Bond: this time, he is romantically involved with a girl and dates her. He womanizes at one point in the story, but only as the means for an end (gathering more information on Blofeld's clinic in Switzerland). And, notably, he is very comprehensive of this somewhat conflicted woman: the consented, rebellious and suicidal daughter of an Italian mafia don who sees in Bond the man that could "dominate her" and "make love to her enough to make her love him". However, Bond does exactly the opposite: he comforts her and promises her "a future", the emotional stability she was lacking and exteriorized with scandals, like trying to drown herself in a Portuguese beach or betting without funds in a casino: "People who want to stay alive play it safe", she initially tells 007.
Moving closer to the final scenes of the film, before the tragic ending, Tracy rescues Bond from SPECTRE agents during the Christmas celebration in Murren, Switzerland. A car chase ensues and both stay in a barn, where Bond confesses how much he loves her, but clarifies that "an agent shouldn't be concerned with anything but himself". She initially takes that as a warning of a break-up, or a reinforcement of the idea that they should meet occasionally. Instead, James does the unthinkable: he tells her he will resign to Her Majesty's Secret Service and asks her to marry him.
In contrast, when we watch La La Land, we see a couple breaking up because their love interfered with their job or vocation. I know, these are modern times and love lately is perceived as a relative feeling instead of an absolute one. Few people seem eager to leave everything for love or to put their dreams on hold just because they are getting along well with a significant other. So, Sebastian and Mia parted ways and reflected on "what would have been" while starting new relationships and going along with their dreams.
I don't know about you, but comparing both situations makes me appreciate James Bond even more as a man. We know of his patriotism and devotion to Queen and Country, how he needs this job to feel alive (read the first chapter of Ian Fleming's Thunderball novel, when he is acting erratically while off-duty), how much he enjoys being a ladies' man... and yet in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, he is willing to leave everything for a girl he loves. He understood that this job wasn't compatible with giving someone like Tracy the emotional stability she needed, to look after her and form a family with her (in the final minutes, we see them planning to have "three boys, three girls").
The Peter Hunt film also teaches us a big lesson about love: it isn't something easy and without obstacles. We are constantly working to improve a relationship and that the person we love is not perfect: we all have our backstory, our dramas, our complications... I tie this with Vesper Lynd's line from Casino Royale: "I'm afraid I'm a complicated woman". She was, Tracy was, we all are complicated. Bond is complicated and also is the man writing this piece, too. The beauty of love is not finding someone who is "not complicated", because that's simply impossible to find if you want a serious love relationship. The challenge is to find the person whose complication is compatible with ours. I, for once, never saw love as an easy thing or as something relaxing. Love demands and you have to act in consequence of those demands. And I think there's not some kind of bulletproof vest for love, to be honest. Love hurts, and please don't misunderstand the meaning of "hurt" here. I don't want to associate it with pain, I'd say in this case it'd be more associated with effort - it's like doing exercise: when you do bent-over rows, if it hurts, that's because you're doing it well. The same happens with love, you have to feel it: feel the joy of having it or the concern that might not be there one day. I will never understand today's indifference in couples regarding how long their significant other will be there, or that are willing to end the relationship for work reasons, as it happened between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the 2017 movie.
I'm not going to dwell too much regarding personal life, but in 2014 I was faced with a dilemma: November 2015. Going to London and the premiere of SPECTRE along with fellow Bond fans, or going to Rio de Janeiro to meet the girl who showed me more love than anyone else. I went to Rio, picking her over Bond (well, not quite as we watched the movie there) and I missed a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me. But guess what? I don't regret it. And if I was back in November 2014, when she simply told me on the phone: "Start saving to come to Rio, because I'm kind of... in love with you" (unbeknown of my original London plans), I would have taken exactly the same decision - and those who know me are aware of how addicted to Bond I am.
Many will strongly disagree with me on my views on La La Land, Bond and Tracy, love or even the decision I took in 2014. But I just wanted to share my two-cents regarding today's romantic dramas, and to highlight a beautiful side of a persona who is frequently perceived as a womanizer or a misogynist like 007. I would say On Her Majesty's Secret Service probably gives us the most generous and genuinely caring version of James Bond we have ever had in almost 59 years of history. And kudos to George Lazenby. Despite his lack of acting, or maybe just because of that, he delighted us with an emotional Bond that felt really natural.
NS
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