![]() ![]() ![]() Had Le Chiffre perceived that SMERSH was on his tail, he surely would have committed suicide. In total, Le Chiffre lost about 50 million francs in the scheme, though the fearsome Soviet agency SMERSH has apparently not yet caught onto his misdeed. Using funds granted to him by his communist-controlled trade union, Le Chiffre has rather carelessly invested in a string of French brothels, all of which went bankrupt immediately following the enactment of new moralistic legislation passed in France - “fate rebuked him with terrifying swiftness” (9). Presently, he is on the brink of a financial crisis after a poor investment goes sideways. He has a peculiar licentious taste for all things masochistic and depraved –his chief weakness being women– and he ceaselessly sucks on an inhaler. ![]() Here, we meet a portly Soviet operative who goes by the name Le Chiffre (among other aliases like “the Number” “Herr Nummer” “Herr Ziffer” etc). The casino –a vast opulent victorian baroque edifice– has been tenderly restored to its former glory from the Belle Epoch. Ian Fleming’s inaugural James Bond novel ( Casino Royale, 1953) introduces us to the fictional French town of Royale-les-Eaux, a coastal enclave perched near the mouth of the Somme where a lavish casino sits. ![]()
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