The next James Bond film is to be called Quantum of Solace. The name is taken from one of a collection of short stories published by 007 creator Ian Fleming in 1960. The orginal story has no super-villains, guns, or global conspiracies. It centres around a dinner party conversation in the Bahamas between Bond and the Colonial Governor.
Bond is told of a young Diplomatic Service man who marries a flight attendant. When she becomes disillusioned with her life she begins a blatant affair which ruins her husband. He retaliates by ruthlessly crushing her spirit over the course of a year, leaving her financially and emotionally ruined. The crux is the emotional phenomenon the Governor calls the Quantum of Solace, the smallest unit of human compassion that two people can have. As long as that compassion exists, people can survive, but when it is gone, when your partner no longer cares about your essential humanity, the relationship is over.
All very well. But seriously – no super-villains, guns, or global conspiracies?
