Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen)
Stats
Le Chiffre played by Mads Mikkelsen
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark on 22nd November 1965
Starred in Casino Royale (2006)
Profile
Through an arrangement by the mysterious Mr White, Le Chiffre travels with him to Uganda to discuss a money making deal with Steven Obanno. Once the deal is arranged, Obanno and his men load a large sum of money into Le Chiffre's 4x4. He hasn't even left the area when he uses the money to buys more stock against the Skyfleet S570 launch being a success.
When Bond later kills Mollaka, Alex Dimitrios who is working for Le Chiffre, has to explain to him what happened. He tells Le Chiffre not to worry as he already someone else in mind who is ready to accept the job. When this person, Carlos, fails to destroy the Skyfleet prototype after Bond steps in, Le Chiffre tells his stockbroker that he has lost $101,260,000 in this deal. Realising that someone must have talked, he interrogates the only person still alive connected to this operation, the wife of Alex Dimitrios, Solange. Unfortunately she doesn't know anything and is consequently killed by Le Chiffre.
In order to recoup his clients money, he enters a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale in Montenegro. M decides to send Bond to compete with Le Chiffre to force him to lose, knowing that he would have to turn to MI6 for protection, and thus having to reveal his contacts and client list.
As the Texas hold 'em game of poker commences, Le Chiffre starts to win. However during a game Bond notices Le Chiffre's has a tell which he lets Vesper Lynd and Mathis know when she criticises his playing.
During a break Le Chiffre returns to his suite on the instructions of his partner Valenka. However whilst doing so he is confronted by Obanno who is outraged that Le Chiffre thought he could get away with his money. He grabs Le Chiffre and starts to strangle him, where he manages to blurt out that he will give him the money the next day. Obanno decides someone should lose an arm for this betrayal, but since Le Chiffre needs it to play cards, he decides to cut Valenka's arm off instead. It turns out to be a bluff when he stops at the last moment. Obanno tells Valenka to find herself a new boyfriend after Le Chiffre didn't say a word to stop him.
Back at the poker table, Le Chiffre manages to bankrupt Bond after forcing him to go all in, after he believes Le Chiffre is bluffing. Now out of the game, Bond turns to Vesper for money to buy back into the game. She refuses, so Bond decides to take drastic action to assassinate Le Chiffre. Before he can do so however, he encounters Felix Leiter who agrees to stake Bond in the game in return for custody of Le Chiffre.
Now back in the game and making an excellent comeback, Le Chiffre tells Valenka to put some poison in Bonds drink. As she watches Bond drink, he starts to feel a little uncomfortable and leaves the table. Le Chiffre and Valenka are clearly annoyed when Bond returns a short while later realising their attempt failed. As play reaches a climax, Le Chiffre's full house manages to beat all the other players, however Bonds hand, a straight flush, wins the game.
Now clutching at straws with his options becoming increasingly limited, Le Chiffre arranges to kidnap Vesper and leads Bond into his trap. Pursuing in his Aston Martin DBS, Bond notices Vesper bound in the middle of the road and has to swerve very hard to avoid hitting her, thus tipping the car over and sending it into a violent series of flips. Le Chiffre then takes Bond and Vesper to a facility where they are separated and Bond is stripped naked and sat on a chair.
When Bond awakes, Le Chiffre proceeds to nastily use the knotted end of thick rope to repeatedly hit Bond's nether regions to force him to disclose the password for gaining access to the poker tournaments winnings. Bond endures the torture and refuses to give up the password. He does however start to sow the seeds of doubt, telling Le Chiffre that he will also be tortured when his clients find out about their money. Just before Le Chiffre cuts of Bond's manhood, gunshots are heard and Mr White enters. When Le Chiffre is held at gunpoint, he makes a last attempt to convince Mr White that he'll get the money, but he tells him that trust is more important that money and shoots Le Chiffre in the head.
About
Le Chiffre is an international banker and money launderer for the world's terrorists. He seems to have many schemes up his sleeve including the failed plan to use Obanno's money to buy stocks in the new advanced Skyfleet prototype at Miami International. With stocks in the company rising sharply, Le Chiffre bets against this trend, planning to destroy the plane and thus sending the stocks crashing making hundreds of millions.
While his mathematical intellect and talents for games of skill and calculating probabilities is usually used for high-stakes poker games on board his yacht, when his plans fail he uses these skills hoping to win a high-stakes game at Casino Royale in Montenegro. The plan being to win back the money before Obanno, his other clients, or indeed Mr White knows what has happened.
Le Chiffre is certainly an interesting villain who is quiet and calculating, yet equally is physically menacing and brutal. With his platinum inhaler, and haemolacria condition where his left eye is damaged, and on occasion weeps blood, it provides a welcome return to villains of the past. §
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