Skyfall: Old Age and Oedipal Rage

Warning: massive spoilers for Skyfall below.

Skyfall has emerged as one of the best outings for the iconic British spy James Bond (Daniel Craig). It ranks along with From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me. But Skyfall is a unique Bond film in that the diabolical plan from Bond villain Raoul Silva (Oscar winner Javier Bardem) doesn't involve world domination or destruction. It is in fact a very personal revenge plan to humiliate and kill M (Oscar winner Judi Dench) years after she leaves Silva, an ex-MI6 agent, for dead after a mission goes wrong. His rage against M is Oedipal in nature; he calls her Mother mockingly and he plays the Prodigal Son to Bond's Good Son.

Silva's revenge plot represents the general theme of disposability that runs through Skyfall. In this world of dangerous, shadowy espionage people are easily dispensed with once their job is done or once their usefulness is compromised. The film begins with James Bond finding Ronson (MI6 agent, double-O number unknown) fatally wounded. M orders Bond to leave and continue pursuing Ronson's attacker Patrice (Ola Rapace) who stole important information from him regarding undercover agents. Bond does so after a moment's hesitation. The job must be done.

This scenario happens many times in the film. Agents and other people are rendered dispensable when the time comes. This affects almost all the characters including Bond himself. The catalyst to the plot has M forcing MI6 agent Eve (Naomie Harris) to shoot at Patrice even though she could hit Bond. She misses and sends Bond falling to his possible death.

Bond and M are threatened with forced retirement because of their old age and past mistakes. Bond fails his physical exam and M lets him continue his mission, which then nearly costs her job. There is always someone younger and healthier to take your place in this world. In M's case, Gareth Mallory (Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes) is standing at the wings and waiting for M to make the mistake that will end her career.

Silva forces M to take a long, hard look at her choices. Her whole career is being flashed before her eyes as Mallory and Clair Dowar (Helen McCrory) investigate her choices and mistakes. Being under their eye as well as being Silva's target unravel and unnerve M. The end of her career is looming and she starts to feel the same sting of disposability which her agents and Silva feel.

And that's why the climax had to take place at Bond's ancestral home Skyfall. There, Bond wasn't disposable and had people who loved and cared for him as himself, not just as a servant to Mother England. The battle between Silva and Bond and M isn't just another nondescript world domination plot that we've seen in countless other 007 films. To quote the Jaws sequel poster: this time, it's personal.  This battle actually has personal meaning for Bond and M, thus raising the stakes even more than usual. Sure, in the next 007 movie, there will be another villain with another goal but Silva has had an actual effect on Bond, M and MI6.

Even outside MI6, the threat of being disposed of and dispensable hovers over the characters. This especially holds true for poor Severine (Berenice Marlohe), the tragic lamb of Skyfall. In general there are three types of Bond Girls: the Moneypenny type (flirtations but nothing more), the "bed and dead" type (dies or disappears after giving Bond info and sleeping with him) and the "endgame" type (survives through the end, helping Bond with the mission). Skyfall contains all three except M is the endgame Bond Girl (or Lady I guess, since calling Dame Judi Dench a girl is stupid), Severine is the bed and dead type and Eve is literally the Moneypenny type.

As the bed and dead type of Bond Girl, Severine, possibly named for the equally tragic protagonist in Belle de Jour, highlights this theme of dispensability that runs through Skyfall. She has 20 minutes or so of screentime and exists mainly to deliver Bond to Silva. This is nothing new for the 007 series. There usually is some femme fatale that has her uses and then is killed off.

The difference is that the filmmakers and Marlohe worked hard to create a genuinely interesting and mysterious character. Severine is a troubled woman whose past horrors are hinted at but never explored. There's just enough of a mystery behind Severine so that she doesn't remain just another pretty face for Bond to conquer. It's a credit to both the script and Marlohe's neurotic, complex performance that Severine's inevitable death is surprising, effective and tragic. Severine may be dispensable within the world of Skyfall but Marlohe is not. Severine's death actually means something now; she is yet another unfortunate casualty like Ronson, an additional motivation for Bond to defeat Silva.

I know Skyfall has its detractors because of its fantastical action scenes and highly personal plot. But for me Skyfall remains a singular achievement in the Bond franchise,. It's a continuation of the hard work done by Casino Royale to extend the series beyond mindless fun and give it some emotional weight. Skyfall explores the themes of human disposability through its focus on old age and Silva's revenge plot against M. I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Skyfall. Feel free to leave your comments below.