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.
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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.
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