Bond Girls are Forever

Originally published on social media on January 19th, 2022

This is not the type of film I would typically mention on this account for a couple of reasons. First of all, this documentary was only 50 minutes long which is fairly short compared to film time standards, and this is after all a film review blog. Second, this is a documentary. Granted, I have seen both boring documentaries and INCREDIBLY fascinating documentaries and those issues primarily revolve around editing, cinematography, and the way the content is organized. However, there is something that feels morally wrong about critiquing documentaries because they are not works of fiction with actors.

So in this post, I am breaking my own rules, but it's #JamesBondJanuary and this is the most relevant documentary that I have seen during my Bond class. Rather than critique it, I am going to try with all my earnestness to convince you to watch this.

This documentary is unique in that it is entirely hosted by previous Bond girls and women. It is entirely composed of women interviewing women, and all of these particular women share a common experience of being in the Bond franchise, so their questions and conversations are more personal and fascinating. If you have ever seen even one James Bond film, you will enjoy this documentary.

What I particularly love about this documentary is how honest the Bond girls are, and how (believe it or not) the majority still loved being Bond girls and saw it as a privilege. Intellectuals often want to cancel or kill the Bond franchise because of how it deals with women, but this conversation (full of chronocentrism) often creates assumptions about the way the Bond girls themselves felt about making the films and with their resulting fame. This collective conversation amongst the Bond girls brings a lot of clarity to the topic and puts the conversation in its proper historical context.