London is a truly wonderful city. I need to remind myself of that sometimes, or something happens to remind me.
London is a truly wonderful city. I need to remind myself of that sometimes, or something happens to remind me. Recently I met Mads Mikkelsen, famous for playing La Chiffre in the recent remade of Casino Royale alongside Daniel Craig. The whole experience was quite surreal, party because of the very down-to-earth location.
The wonderful discussion inspired me to watch Casino Royale again. Now, the USD150 million-poker tournament at Casino Royale in Montenegro has always made me chuckle. I always liked the idea of being a Bond girl for the same reason many of my friends – the escape. But there was another reason for giggling this time round; the scene reminded me of several clients:
> James Bond – the suave, domineer, brooding and angry British agent.
> Le Chiffre – the enigmatic, nimble, bluffing and ultimately doomed financer.
> Felix Langer – the clunking, intelligent but out-of-depth CIA agent.
> Mr Mendel – the dull, forgettable and jovial Swiss private banker.
You can insert the relevant banks based on your own experiences as clients.
But to me the undertone of Casino Royale is that everyone loses; except Mr Mendel. Bond loses Vesper; Langer loses La Chiffre, La Chiffre dies. Mendel holds USD150 million in escrow, takes a nice fee for his services and skips into the sunset outside a Swiss hospital without any damage.It’s good to be Swiss sometimes.
So, while I want to be Bond’s girl, Mr. Mendel is what we all need at the end of the day – something safe and forgettable. To paraphrase Mr. Langer, the Swiss really do seem to know something we don’t. Good for them.