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This famous movie scene was very carefully and artfully put together to portray the first character entrance of an “ultra seducer”, an idealized Alpha Male with almost superhuman levels of game. It ended up becoming one of the most well-known movie character entrances of all time and “sets up” the James Bond series of films, and Sean Connery, for spectacular worldwide success.
I urge you to watch this clip several times as there is a ton of game here – too much to take in all at once. There are a mass of subtle details, and the amount of useful information that can be gleaned from this is invaluable. It’s got all the pieces, together with a rare window into the heady excitement of what remained of the now-forgotten, opulent, sparkling, dangerous world of the courtiers of old. A lot happens in these brief seconds – and every single thing Bond does signals high status. I will unpack some of the details for you.
In the first shot where he is seen, Bond’s presence is already palpable even though his back is to the camera! Not everything is revealed at once (a classic seduction strategy in itself) but is delivered in a timed sequence, each step raising the tension higher than the last – first his back, then the voice. Only when he delivers his famous introduction is his face revealed.
He’s impeccably groomed – everything is put together flawlessly. In manner too, he has the demeanor of rock solid confidence and detachment. Every move, from the snap of the lighter to the raised eyebrow, is slick but understated. He’s not saying “Hey everybody, look at me”. But he’s incredibly focused and strong, utterly self-assured and powerful, carrying himself with the I-don’t-give-a-fuck demeanor of an apex predator.
Note the now-legendary “pause for effect” when Bond speaks his name, and how it gives power to his words. This pause is a classic technique employed by skilled speakers. Note also the deepening voice tone as he meets her eyes with a powerful “Alpha gaze”. This unflinching stare-down is a challenge, a projection of pure intensity and dominance. A simple statement – “I am stronger than you. Fear me.”
Sylvia Trench, the alpha female, immediately sets him a return challenge to see if he’s really up to it, by raising the gambling stakes to danger level and meeting his gaze with her own. She is a very powerful woman; accustomed to being able to control most men easily. She has sufficient wealth that she doesn’t care one whit if she loses heavily at the card table. She is seeking not monetary profit, but deep down in her primal nature wants a man who is more powerful than her; strong enough to be an actual challenge, who is not just going to be pliable or try to offer her the same old thing that she can already get so easily (and therefore doesn’t want). She only wants a man who is truly powerful and strong enough to really excite her.
So she uses the power of her money as a test to see if she can fluster him (at which point she would lose any interest). He is utterly nonchalant – no hesitation whatsoever before voicing, with the superb dismissive gestures of the left hand, that he has no objection to dancing with potential loss of a large amount of money. He just doesn’t give a shit either way.
As the cards are dealt, still maintaining super strong eye contact and only breaking off with the glances required by the card game, he responds to her ‘test’ with a joke “looks like you’re out to get me” – a superb double entendre on the word ‘get’, from the obvious meaning of conquest at the card table to the conquest of seduction. He’s also framing the situation as though it is her who is the one who is pursuing him – subtly reinforcing the idea that she has already decided that she wants him.
His joke teases her, shows that he is unafraid of bringing the subject around to the realm of sex, and she responds with an indicator of interest, parrying his thrust by pretending that she hadn’t thought of it but immediately raising him by indicating flirtatiously – yet subtly – that she liked the idea.
Note how he ends up in control of the frame: Winning helps of course, but he treats this with absolute detached amusement. He is the one who gets up to leave, cutting off the interaction with total disinterest. He simply has more important things to do – which makes her instinctively chase him.
This is the “hook point”. Now she is flirting more overtly, showing desire, fluttering her eyelashes seductively after saying “just when things were getting interesting.”
“Do you play any other games”… another double entendre on the word “games”, subtly yet quite deliberately placing the suggestion of sex in her mind once again before pulling it back with “apart from Chemin de Fer” (the name of the card game they were playing in the Casino). The hidden meaning here is “Are you down for sexual encounters?”
She returns his quip with “Golf… amongst other things”, another subtle sign of interest, cleverly playing along with his innuendo (subtle compliance) and indicating the possibility of sexual availability and intrigue.
At this point, despite all the cleverly veiled talk, she has indicated clearly that it’s on – so he immediately goes direct and tells her assertively where and when the date will be. Notice the “lock in” – just as taught by the modern-day Mystery Method! – he leans back against the booth. Leaning back against the wall in this manner is an alpha power position, leaving her with her back to the room and appearing to observers to be the one chasing him. This raises his stock even higher. He then tells her exactly what to do and for the second time walks away absolutely decisively and powerfully, not a lingering glance: Leaving her confused, excited and intrigued as to who this man of such astonishing mystery and confident power is.
To watch the body language even more closely, watch the scene with the sound turned off. Note how at no point in the scene does he lean in, follow her or physically pursue in any way. She is the one who follows him. He doesn’t hang around “hoping” for anything. He doesn’t waste any time at all on her, he’s on a mission. He has to go; and by having something far more important to do than to be waylaid by this beautiful woman, he sets himself up way higher than all the other men she typically meets; who would immediately arrange their world around her as the “pinnacle” of all they could hope to achieve. Bond on the other hand, while certainly interested in her, is totally carefree and not in the least invested. It’s a masterclass in being direct whilst having total freedom from outcome.
Bond remains completely in control of himself throughout, whereas throughout the scene her interest in him grows gradually yet continually with every stroke he plays. By the time he walks away she is so desirous of him that she seems barely able to prevent herself from running after him and is left spellbound, watching him as he strides away purposefully.
And you thought these movies were just fluff!
Bond is a hypothetical character, and movies are not real life – yet this glamorous scene is loaded with knowledge of male-female interactions and of how actual seduction works. Ian Fleming – the author of the James Bond stories – was a highly erudite, worldly and accomplished man who had worked for British Intelligence during WW2.
All is not as it seems in the world of the court. It’s high level stuff, moves so fast that it’s intoxicating and Bond’s work here is as smooth a pick-up as you will ever see.
Scene II: Enter Miss Moneypenny…
Next, the famous “Moneypenny” scene. Moneypenny is basically throwing herself at him. She wants him, badly – and poses all kinds of attempted seduction in order to try to win him over. She plays a classic role – of a frustrated, attractive working girl trapped in an office job, begging for some real excitement and longing for Prince Charming to come and seduce her, sweeping her away to his castle in the clouds.
She is clearly infatuated with Bond – in at the deep end – and her supplicating voice tone “I’ve been looking all over London for you” is not that of a secretary but that of an upset girlfriend longing for her man to come home and make love to her!
She knows Bond is ‘out of her league’, but doesn’t care – she will readily give it all, given an ounce of encouragement. At every turn, he demonstrates Alpha quality. He seizes her hand, sings to her, leads her in a pretend dance, teases her, kisses her on the forehead, treats her as though he has every right to behave badly and do whatever he wants. He’s totally politically incorrect – and he’s absolutely unfazed by her slap, continuing to plough ahead nonchalantly. When she voices her complaint, not at his bad behavior, which she is getting turned on by, but at the fact that he will not date her – “you never take me out to dinner”, now this is an archetypal example of a “shit test”. If a man is flustered by her complaint (a natural expression of her femininity), he loses control of the frame and loses the girl.
Note how Bond doesn’t even bother to deal with the question on her terms, maintains total composure and doesn’t allow any negativity to invade the space, immediately coming back with “I would you know, only M would have me court martialled for illegal use of government property.” Note again another fabulous double entendre, the words “use” and “property”. Even though Bond’s sexist “property” joke subtly reduces her to object status, it’s the best one-liner in the scene and the veiled suggestion of being used by him sexually in some taboo manner, combined with the stylish delivery, raises her temperature even more: Her eyes widen and she melts into his arms like a submissive hen. It’s a perfect example of the beautiful woman who chooses the jerk over the nice guy through primal instinct and addiction to the drug of sexual excitement.
What really makes the scene is that she has actually got some great game herself and their dance is not altogether one-sided. Note how when he goes to kiss her forehead a second time, she uses a “back turn”, taking away her attention from him as soon as he ‘crosses the boundary’ into actually trying to kiss her. She controls the frame momentarily here, allowing him to bend the ‘office rules’ right to breaking point before bringing things sharply back to business – however she knows deep down that cards such as her back turn are not aces in this set and that even though she is giving it her best shot at getting him to attend to her womanly needs, it cannot give her the hold over him that she really wants. Finally, we see once again that he just doesn’t care less either way.
The delight of this scene is that it is played out continually throughout the Bond movie series and never consummated, leaving the audience tantalized as the office rules only serve to increase the electric charge instead of dissipating it.
A subtle seduction game is played on the audience by the filmmakers and by Ian Fleming, the master storyteller – the viewer is flirted with in every movie, teasing and leaving them ever hungry for more.
The Wrap-Up
Now, how is all this useful to us ‘mere mortals’? First, note the “dance of seduction” that takes place in the rapid-fire exchanges. How the energy is ‘moved around’ between the male and female, and how they push each other away in order to make each other hotter for the other. Note also how in the glamorous world of the courtier, the surfaces and depths of things dance with each other.
As Napoleon said “Place your iron fist in a velvet glove.” The arena of high society is a world of invisible swordplay, where moves of power are always hidden under the glittering surfaces.
Of course, it’s hard for the average man to pull this sort of thing off when you don’t have thousands to burn carelessly on the casino, and you’re not an international spy with an actual mission! However, many of the attributes of Bond are actually within reach of “the rest of us”.
There are many distinct factors that have made him what he is. As the saying goes, it’s all in the preparation: He’s spent his life in training to be an elite agent with impeccable skills in innumerable disciplines including driving, skiing, fighting and shooting.
A spy must also be a master conversationalist, courtier, seducer and survivalist, being able to move gracefully and powerfully both in high society and in battle.
Bear in mind that excellence, as was famously said by Aristotle, is not an act but a habit. We become what we do repeatedly, and mastery of anything only comes from continual focus, preparation, training and dedication. You can’t spend your life sitting on the sofa eating potato chips and playing video games, and then walk out, smelly and unshaven, in a dirty T-shirt… and impress a super hottie. She will immediately see, from your appearance and manner, that you are not someone who habitually pushes themselves, seeking peak performance and the ‘edge’ in life. The successes of tomorrow are built on the right actions of today.
The whole notion that we can conjure the life of our dreams into being, simply by wishing for it, is a total illusion.
It is a fantasy which appeals to the “lower nature” and inherent laziness of all creatures, who then without realizing their error, use it to avoid making actual effort. However, having an inspiring dream is the first step. Then, it is up to you to get off your butt and make it happen. No-one will do it for you, and being an international man of mystery does not fall into your lap.
It is sheer hard work, dedication and focus. The same applies to your dating life. Commit to self improvement, pure and simple – and you will begin to shine ever more brightly. Effort is more painful than non-effort. But the presence of beautiful women in your life is a reward for the effort you put into redefining yourself as the best version of yourself that you can be. Women have options: and to attract the best women you must be the best option.
And remember: You don’t have forever. I can’t watch this without a pang of sadness. Connery, once the pinnacle of masculinity, eventually grew old and died. Nothing left now but memories of how it used to be. RIP.
