One look at the teaser poster of Casino Royale (2006) is enough to decipher that the film contains elements of film noir. A cold-eyed James Bond can be seen dressed in a tuxedo, a bowtie loosely draped around his neck, and a gun hanging from his hand with the shadow bathing him almost entirely. In the background, Vesper, Bond’s brunette love interest in the film, can be seen dressed in a black ballgown, just standing there and somberly gazing at Bond. Clearly the film’s poster has the dark and gritty feel of classic film noir. While categorizing film noir has always been infamously difficult (Goler), sometimes it is seen as a genre, a sub-genre, other times as a movement, or often merely as a style. Nonetheless, the elements of film noir never remain hidden and can be easily recognized. The purpose of this essay is to identify the elements of film noir in Casino Royale by analyzing the film, and discuss their impact on the film as a whole.
Over the years, numerous Hollywood crime dramas have been described using the cinematic term ‘film noir’ (Silver, Ursini, and Ward). In French, ‘noir’ literally means black. So it is only natural for films from this genre to be known for their dark outlook. They have brooding heroes, and manipulative villains. Women in these films were usually portrayed as irresistible femme fatales that the hero illicitly desires. Plots of these films often revolved around fatalism. These films typically contained very dark lighting that created claustrophobic atmospheres and long shadows. Upon closer analysis, many of these elements seem to be present in Casino Royale. These fundamental elements of film noir can be identified throughout the film. In fact, Casino Royale is one the most recent examples of film noir, marking the revival of this genre.
The notion of a ‘dark film’ that film noir represents can be identified in several scenes in the film, especially in the opening scene, and this scene serves to set the emotion of the rest of film. Filmmakers of noir films always believed in keeping the audience guessing by revealing characters in the form of silhouettes in a very dark atmosphere as seen in the first two minutes of Casino Royale’s opening scene. Opening a film with such a gloomy palette is typical of film noir (Hirsch). Extreme camera and low-key lighting were essential parts of visual style adopted by classical film noir during the 40s till the late 50s. Back then, directors were often forced to cut costs, which led them to use darkness and shadows. However, in Casino Royale, these elements of film noir are used to do justice to the gritty nature of Ian Flemming’s novel.
The opening sequence has quite a twisted storyline with a lot of flashbacks. Noir films always tend to have unusually complex storylines with flashbacks such as this, where the narrative sequence is interrupted by flashbacks that are emphasized with the use of special editing techniques. For instance, flashback scene switch to a more contrasting pure white lighting and tension is added to the scene by the dramatic music playing in the background, which continues getting louder. The scene also contains several examples of extreme camera angles. As in many noir films, the audience sees bond for the first time in a mirror. For the rest of the scene, whenever the camera switches to Bond, he is seen from a low angle, which reflects his dominance. Bond’s posture also makes him appear calm and powerful.
The gloom of the years after World War II left filmmakers wallowing (Blaser). The same was the case with writers as well. Fortunately for them, they were able to introduce a procession of bitter and batter heroes into the pages of their novels. The lack of source material forced Hollywood to turn to these novels. Soon filmmakers were adopting these unflinching heroes for films from the action genre, and when these heroes made their way to crime dramas, the hardboiled action that followed became a part of film noir. Ironically, James Bond himself is a character adopted from a series of spy novels. There is no arguing that Casino Royale was an edgy Bond film with hardboiled intensity. In fact, it was this hardboiled intensity that set the Casino Royale apart from its predecessors and made the film seem more refreshing. Of course, it further strengthens the thesis of this essay that the film is indeed a representation of classic film noir.
Without a doubt, Casino Royale would not be a Bond film without James Bond himself, and it is because of Bond’s abstract and unique portrayal that it is regarded as the best Bond film by many. However, it can be argued that Bond’s portrayal in Casino Royale is that of a typical brooding film noir hero. Noir heroes are typically alienated from society, nurtured in a rugged and severe climate. These heroes are tortured souls, full of angst and mystery, running from a dark past and treading through the dark and gloomy waters of humanity. Daniel Craig undoubtedly portrayed Bond precisely this way in Casino Royale, and if he had not, then the film would not have done justice to the novel. Thus, unlike previous Bond films we have a Bond who is bitter and broken, who ends up staring death in the face and despite surviving, he finds himself facing more danger and tragedy.
Every Bond film needs a villain who would be a worthy enough adversary for James Bond. In Casino Royale, Le Chiffre fills in the shoes of a manipulative film noir villain. In several aspects, Le Chiffre seems to be as competent in a villain as bond is a hero. He is a business-savvy, computer-literate, expert poker player, and a mathematics whiz. Of course his manipulation, which is typical of film noir villains, is what sets him apart from previous Bond bad guys. He actually manages to outsmart Bond, faking his own ‘tell,’ causing Bond to lose his entire stakes, and almost succeeding in send Bond to his death. Le Chiffre is also diabolical like many film noir villains, which is seen during the scene where he decides to use an ingenious way of torturing Bond. Apart from the fact the smoky and shadowy atmosphere of the scene itself is an ode to film noir, but the portrayal of Le Chiffre in the scene adds to the grittiness of the film.
No Bond film is complete without a Bond girl, and though there have been many over the course of the film series, Vesper Lynd’s presence in Casino Royale further ties the film to the film noire genre because she is a perfect example of film noir femme fatales. The male characters in noir films were often a cop, criminal, reporter, war veteran, or in this case a spy, and there was always an attractive yet fiendish dishonest woman to distract him and lead him to his doom. These femme fatales brought that balance of trust and betrayal that was typical of noir films. Honestly, Vesper Lynd cannot even be called a Bond girl, nor is she entirely villainous, which makes her a Bond film femme fatal, the first of her kind. Just like film noir femme fatales, she has the dual status of Bond’s love interest and the one who deceives him (Garland 179-188).
Noir films are known to have been pervaded with political undertones because film noir itself emerged in post-war America, during the rise of McCarthyism, and the threat of nuclear war looming over. Noir films of the time were a reflection of this fear and political injustice. Casino Royale too has several political undertones, but of course they had been updated for a more modern audience. Casino Royale dabbles in terrorist plots, the biggest of them being central to the film’s plot, i.e. preventing Le Chiffre from funding terrorists and forcing him to aid the British government. Certain other world events have also be emphasized in the film’s political undertones. Of course, like noir films, these political undertones are there to highlight very real threats that the world is facing today, especially terrorism, but at the same time they have been tackled quite skillfully, and they are never obtrusive.
Although numerous online source materials have identified the opening scene as a perfect example of classic film noir, however, none of them acknowledge the fact that Casino Royale as a whole might as well belong in the film noir genre. Of course, anyone who is familiar with film noir would be able to distinguish the opening scene; however, it would be wrong to say that it is the only film noir aspect of the film. Rather, serving as a prequel within the film, the dark and gloomy opening scene merely serves as an allusion to the rest of the film noir aspects of Casino Royale, and sets the overall mood of the film. The mentioned film noir elements in Casino Royale can be compared to those in other classic film noir films, such as the gloomy palette in The Killing (1956), the brooding hero in The Dark Corner (1946), the hardboiled action in The Maltese Falcon (1941), and the political undertones in Kiss Me Deadly (1955). In conclusion, the impact of these elements is not merely limited to making Casino Royale identifiable as a noir film, rather altogether they give complete this unique Bond film that is nothing like the previous ones.
Works Cited
Blaser, John. "No Place for a Woman: World War II, the Traditional Family, and Classical Hollywood Cinema." Berkley Library. The Regents of the University of California, n.d. Web. 7 Mar 2013.
Casino-Royale-movie-poster. N.d. dvdsreleasedates.com. Web. 7 Mar 2013.
Garland, Tony W. "“The Coldest Weapon Of All”: The Bond Girl Villain In James Bond Films." Journal Of Popular Film & Television. 37.4 (2009): 179-188. Print.
Goler, Bernie R.. "Out of the Past." Redlands Fortnightly Club. The Fortnightly Club of Redlands, California, 18 Oct 2007. Web. 7 Mar 2013.
Hirsch, Foster. The Dark Side Of The Screen, Film Noir. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2009. Print.
Silver, Alain, James Ursini, and Elizabeth Ward. The Film Noir Encyclopedia. Overlook Press, 2011. Print.
