No matter how many times I watch the film, I always worry Bond is about to be struck by the point! I still get a bit hot under the collar and feel the tension as Klebb’s knife shoe brushes the legs of Bond as he tries to block her in with the chair. Klebb’s demise in Italy is a nice finale for the wretched character, though the overacting on Lenya’s part after Tatiana shoots her is somewhat amusing. When the power center shifts, Klebb can be just as compromised and rattled as her own prey. The fear in her eyes and the pools of sweat she expels in front of her master as he seems to be ordering her death is a nice bit of karma for a woman who comes off as untouchable. When she interacts with Blofeld, however, we see that the dominatrix can, in fact, be dominated. Klebb is so used to being in control, and we never see her out of that environment for the vast majority of the film. She’s using the sex tape as a perfect opportunity to get off on her kink, in a very uncomfortable and creepy fashion. Klebb is locked into the moment, and you can feel her eyes piercing Tatiana in a way that clearly relates her true sexuality and attraction to the woman to the audience. Klebb’s actions seem to say, “I own you now.”Įven creepier is later on in the film when, unbeknownst to Bond or Tatiana, Klebb is having a sex tape filmed of them in secret from behind the bedroom glass. The look on the innocent woman’s face says it all it’s not a touch she likes, and subtextually it carries a far darker message. The off-putting unease of the scene only increases in severity as Klebb dances her fingers off Tatiana and holds her around the shoulder, invading her space. Klebb uses the mission at hand to weed into Tatiana’s private life, leafing through files that relay to the reader her sexual conquests. The scene carries a tense and uncomfortable mood as Tatiana’s privacy is demolished and Klebb closes in on her physically and mentally to ensure she has control over the girl and can count on her to follow the orders she’s been given. Her meeting with Tatiana is the perfect example of this invasive personality. She backs down from nothing and boars her way into the personal zones of others to get the information she needs. Throughout the film, Klebb is chillingly characterized as an invasive woman. Klebb casts a wide shadow for such a diminutive woman, and when she gutturally shouts her orders and whips out that stick of hers, she surprises you with the kind of force she is able to output. Like many villains to come after him, Kronsteen’s sizeable ego was the final nail in his coffin.Ĭolonel Rosa Klebb Lotte Lenya is in fine form here as a menacing bitch of a woman, a true metal heel of the Soviet-and now SPECTRE-ranks. He and Bond never meet in person, but I love how 007 still manages to write his death certificate, as indirect an action as it is. A simple moment of biting tension arises when he thinks he’s arguing for Klebb’s demise instead of his own in front of Blofeld. When his death finally comes, it’s magnificent. This makes me think that he’s such a skilled chess player that he has to reign himself in to avoid playing his best with lesser opponents just to entertain himself and make the game worth watching for others. I love how once Kronsteen gets the note and knows he’s expected by SPECTRE, he almost seems to finish his opponent early just to make the appointment. If there’s any Bond film that feels like watching a chess game played by two maestro players as they move pieces strategically to usurp enemy control of the board until victory is reached, it’s From Russia with Love. The brain of SMERSH in the novel, and SPECTRE here is without heart.įollowing the pre-title sequence, Kronsteen is the first person we see, and I love how the film opens proper with the chess game he is playing that is very symbolic of the spy game Bond plays, and the trap he’ll be placed in the middle of during the movie with so many moving pieces and moments of checkmate throughout. Sheybal really brings out the character of Fleming’s original from the book and his cold indifference expertly you believe that this man would not only blow off SPECTRE to win his chess match but that he would also sell his family down the river without regret. His egotism is so pronounced, deliciously so, and I enjoy watching his plans fall under the weight of his miscalculations on account of Bond every time I pop in From Russia with Love. Kronsteen This master calculator played by Vladek Sheybal reminds me very much of Mads Mikkelson’s Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. In this is the second part of an in-depth review of 'From Russia With Love', we focus on James Bond's adversaries: Donald 'Red' Grant, Colonel Rosa Klebb, and Kronsteen.
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