Frankly, Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, BBC’s factual drama on the man who gave birth to the legendary 007 series, is hardly as riveting as the popular spy-agent the world loves.
The four-part mini-series begins with Ian Fleming (essayed by Dominic Cooper), the creator of James Bond, living the life on the high seas with his wife Lady Ann O'Neill (Lara Pulvar) as he types out his first Bond novel, Casino Royale.
Cut to 1939; Fleming, who is somewhat the black sheep in his family of high achievers, is struggling to find his foothold in a country at the brink of war. After being declared ‘London’s worst stockbroker’, he joins the British Naval Intelligence during World War II as a strategist, albeit with a little help from his mother, and even gets assigned his very own M (Officer Monday played by Anna Chancellor).
Fleming follows the life of the author who largely operates out of his desk but really, only wants to be where the action is.
You can sense his frustration every time he complains to his girlfriend about his brother’s accomplishments. The writer to-be spends most of his time talking about how he plans to win the war, in bed with his endless string of paramours.
Written by John Brownlow and Don Macpherson and directed by Mat Whitecross, Fleming, though considered to be by far the most exhaustive series on the life of the author, falls short on several aspects. Fleming is seen using his craftiness and charm to spy for his country. But the series quickly turns into a blooming romance between a very memorable Ann and a very adequate Fleming. Espionage stands forgotten and his love affairs hog screen-time, bringing the plot’s excitement to a screeching halt.
You finally get to see the “struggling” writer take to his typewriter and draw up a blueprint of his wild ideas to defeat the enemy. Unlike his efforts as a spy, this comes more naturally to him. It would’ve been more intriguing to watch his intellectual struggle, rather than dive into his mushy flings.
It doesn’t help that Cooper as the lead actor doesn’t quite keep you hooked on. Though Pulver (remember her as Irene Adler in Sherlock?) nails every scene. In many ways, she also reminds you of Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green) in Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale - in short, she’s very much a “Bond girl”.
What the novelist (Fleming) never got to be a part of, he gave his protagonist (Bond) in abundance. But for James Bond fans (presumably the show’s target audience), Fleming fails to give a more in-depth analysis into the life of the man, who caught the imagination of millions around the world with his fictional character.
Bond’s nauseating treatment of women is also shown to be a trait stemming from his creator. One can’t help but wonder how much fact and fiction have intermingled here. There’s simply too much of Bond in Fleming and that’s where it fails.
But a Bond fan might enjoy the clever scenes that are few and far between. My favourite is the one which captures the life of an author dying to live it large - Fleming orders his drink at a bar with the famous “shaken and not stirred” instruction, only to have a beer slapped into his palm. Now that’s something ordinary and real, that his fictional counterpart probably never got to experience.
Unlike Bond films, the far-from-edgy execution of Fleming makes this series strictly a one-time watch, even for a 007 fan.
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