Le Chiffre

Le Chiffre
James Bond character

Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006)
Created by Ian Fleming
Portrayed by
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Paymaster for the Syndicat des Ouvriers d'Alsace (novel)
Terrorist banker (film)
Affiliation
Nationality Albanian
Classification Villain
Henchmen Valenka

Le Chiffre (French pronunciation: ​[lə ʃifʁ], The Cypher or The Number) is a fictional character appearing in Ian Fleming's 1953 first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. On screen Le Chiffre has been portrayed by Peter Lorre in the 1954 television adaptation of the novel for CBS's Climax! television series, by Orson Welles in the 1967 spoof of the novel and Bond film series, and by Mads Mikkelsen in the 2006 film version of Fleming's novel.

Fleming based the character on occultist Aleister Crowley.[2]

Novel biography

Le Chiffre, alias "Die Nummer", "Mr. Number", "Herr Ziffer" and other translations of "The Number" or "The Cipher" in various languages, is the paymaster of the "Syndicat des Ouvriers d'Alsace" (French for "Alsatian Workmen's Union"), a SMERSH-controlled trade union.

He is first encountered as an inmate of the Dachau displaced persons camp in the US zone of Germany in June 1945 and transferred to Alsace-Lorraine and Strasbourg three months later on a stateless passport. There he adopts the name Le Chiffre because as he claims, he is "only a number on a passport". Not much else is really known about Le Chiffre's background or where he comes from, except for educated guesses based on his description:

Height 5 ft 8 ins. Weight 18 stones (114 kg, 252 lbs). Complexion very pale. Clean shaven. Hair red-brown, 'en brosse' (crew cut). Eyes very dark brown with whites showing all round iris. Small, rather feminine mouth. False teeth of expensive quality. Ears small, with large lobes. Hands small, well-tended, .. Racially, subject is probably of Albanian ancestry. He dresses well and meticulously, generally in dark double-breasted suits.

He is also fluent in Albanian, French, English, and German with traces of a Marseille accent.

Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre in the 1954 TV adaption of Casino Royale.

In the novel, he makes a major investment in a string of brothels with money belonging to SMERSH. The investment fails after a bill is signed into law banning prostitution. Le Chiffre then goes to the casino Royale-les-Eaux in an attempt to recover all of his lost funds. MI6 sends Bond, an expert baccarat player, to the casino to bankrupt Le Chiffre and force him to take refuge with the British government and inform on SMERSH. Bond bests Le Chiffre in a game of Chemin de Fer, taking all of his money. Le Chiffre kidnaps Bond's love interest, Vesper Lynd, to lure him into a trap and get his money back. The trap works, and Le Chiffre tortures Bond to get him to give up the money. He is interrupted by a SMERSH agent, however, who shoots him between the eyes with a silenced TT pistol as punishment for losing the money.

Le Chiffre's death is seen by the Soviet government as an embarrassment, which in addition to the death and defeat of Mr. Big in Live and Let Die, leads to the events of From Russia With Love.

Novel henchmen

1967 film biography

Orson Welles as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (1967)

Le Chiffre is a secondary villain in the 1967 satire and appears in the only segment of the film actually adapted from Fleming's book. As in the novel, Le Chiffre is charged with recovering a large sum of money for SMERSH after he loses it at the baccarat table. He first attempts to raise the funds by holding an auction of embarrassing photographs of military and political leaders from China, the US and the USSR, but this is foiled by Sir James Bond's daughter, Mata Bond. With no other option, he returns to the baccarat table to try to win back the money. Later, he encounters baccarat Master Evelyn Tremble, who has been recruited by Bond to stop Le Chiffre from raising the money. Le Chiffre attempts to distract Tremble by performing elaborate magic tricks, but fails to prevent Tremble from winning. Afterwards, he arranges for Tremble to be kidnapped and subjects the agent to psychedelic torture in order to get back the money. The torture session is interrupted when his SMERSH masters, led by the film's main villain, Dr. Noah, shoot him dead.

2006 film biography

Le Chiffre is the main villain of the official 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale, portrayed by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Believed by MI6 to be Albanian and officially stateless, Le Chiffre is a financier of international terrorism. M implies that Le Chiffre conspired with al-Qaeda in orchestrating 9/11, or at least deliberately profiteering from the attacks by short selling large quantities of airline stocks beforehand. In the video game version of Quantum of Solace, it is said that his birth name is "Jean Duran", in the MI6 mission briefings. A mathematical genius and a chess prodigy, his abilities enable him to earn large sums of money on games of chance and probabilities, and he likes to show off by playing poker. He suffers from haemolacria, which causes him to weep blood out of a damaged vessel in his left eye. As in Fleming's novel, dresses in immaculate black suits and uses a Salbutamol inhaler, here plated with platinum. To date, he is the first main Bond villain to die before the film's final act.

Le Chiffre is contacted by Mr. White, a representative of an elite criminal organisation later revealed to be Quantum (which is later shown to be a department within SPECTRE). White introduces Steven Obanno, a leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, to Le Chiffre, and arranges to bank several briefcases full of cash for Obanno. Le Chiffre invests the money along with his other creditors' money in the aircraft manufacturer SkyFleet. Though SkyFleet's shares have been skyrocketing, he plans to short the company by purchasing put options, and ordering the destruction of the company's new prototype airliner, set to make its first flight out of Miami International Airport. Bond intervenes and foils the plan, costing Le Chiffre millions.

In order to win the money back, Le Chiffre sets up and enters a high-stakes Texas hold 'em tournament at Casino Royale in Montenegro in an attempt to recoup his losses before his clients find out that their money has been misappropriated. Bond is sent to make sure that Le Chiffre does not win back the money; if Le Chiffre is bankrupt, he will be forced to turn to MI6 for asylum, in exchange for information on his creditors and employers.

During the tournament, an enraged Obanno and his lieutenant break into Le Chiffre's hotel room and threaten him and his girlfriend, Valenka. Le Chiffre, who does not object to the threatened amputation of Valenka's arm, is granted one last chance to win their money back. As Obanno leaves the room, his bodyguard spots Bond and hears Valenka's cries coming from Bond's earpiece. Bond kills the bodyguard by throwing him over a railing, then chokes Obanno to death after relieving Obanno of his machete. Rene Mathis arranges the blame to be placed on Le Chiffre's bodyguard Leo.

During the tournament, Le Chiffre initially outwits and bankrupts Bond, who cannot get additional funding from HM Treasury accountant Vesper Lynd, who has accompanied Bond to make sure the money is used properly. However, Felix Leiter, a CIA agent sent to participate in the game, also in hopes of bankrupting Le Chiffre, agrees to bankroll Bond, on the condition that CIA is allowed to take Le Chiffre in afterwards. Desperate, Le Chiffre has Valenka spike Bond's drink. Bond almost dies, but, thanks to an antitoxin kit in his car, a defibrillator, and Vesper's timely interference, he is revived at the last moment and returns to the game. During the final round, Le Chiffre's full house bests the hands of the two players preceding him, but loses to Bond's straight flush.

Le Chiffre kidnaps Vesper, forcing Bond to give chase, and leads him straight into a trap. Le Chiffre leaves Vesper, bound at the feet and hands, in the middle of the road, and Bond is forced to swerve to avoid hitting her and crashes his car.

Semiconscious, Bond is stripped naked and bound to a chair with the seat removed. Le Chiffre proceeds to bludgeon Bond in the testicles repeatedly with the knotted end of a ship's lanyard, each time demanding the password for the account into which the tournament winnings will be transferred. Bond refuses to give in, taunting him with the knowledge that he knows Le Chiffre's clients will track and kill him. Le Chiffre gloats that, even after he kills Bond and Vesper, MI6 will still give him sanctuary in return for information. When Bond refuses to give in, Le Chiffre brandishes a knife and is about to castrate him when he hears gunshots from outside. Seconds later, Mr. White bursts into the room brandishing a handgun. Le Chiffre pleads for his life, but Mr. White nevertheless shoots him above the left eye.

Appearances

EON films

Non-EON films

Film henchmen

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Anthony Breznican (4 April 2008). "James Bond series takes a 'Quantum' leap". USA Today. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  2. ↑ Ben Macintyre (5 April 2008). "Was Ian Fleming the real 007?". The Times. UK. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
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