| “ | Bond: The Chinese have a saying: 'Before setting out on revenge, you first dig two graves'. Melina: I don't expect you to understand, you're English, but I'm half Greek and Greek women like Elektra always avenge their loved ones! |
„ |
| ~ Melina meets Bond |
Melina Havelock is the deuteragonist of the 1981 film, For Your Eyes Only. Melina is the half-British/Greek daughter of Timothy Havelock and Iona Havelock. Melina's parents, Timothy and Iona were murdered by Hector Gonzales, and she became a Greek secret agent.
Melina was played by Carole Bouquet.
Biography[]
Melina is involved in a MI6 spy mission by her parents to investigate the sinking of an electronic surveillance ship.
But Melina's parents are killed on the coast of Albania and Greece by Hector Gonzales, while Melina escapes and goes to the edge of the Triana to get to the yacht. She saddened by the death of her parents, but without crying, she swore revenge on Gonzales.
Melina locates Hector in Spain and kills him by shooting them with a crossbow as he is diving into his pool, under the eyes of Bond who was also there to investigate, which as soon as Bond is seen explains that revenge is never a good thing even if it is not heard.
Since Bond told Melina that Emile Locque paid Gonzales, she hasn't had enough of revenge yet and she wants to kill the assailant too. Cortina is on her way, when she receives a false telegram saying that Bond has seen her murdering parents and to meet her where she is. She is about to be hit by a pair of Yamaha bikes when she is rescued by Bond who eventually convinces her to return to Triana in Corfu so he can investigate, Melina accepts but not for long.
After Bond kills Locque, Melina returns to Tiana where she finds Melina cleaning the seabed on a temple that her father was restoring. The two go through the records and meanwhile Melina tells Bond about a wreck her father had been looking for for some time and had located.
Traveling 500 meters under the sea in their two private Neptune submarines, the St. Georges. Bond and Melina later discover that what Timothy Havelock was looking for is ATAC; an invention that is used to reactivate nuclear rockets. Melina's tube breaks from one with a JIM sub, Melina returns infected to the boat while Bond deals with the mysterious individual who turns out to be Mantis submarine sent by Aristotle Kristatos who had also paid Hector Gonzales to kill the Havelocks.
Kristatos is waiting for them after they get back on the boat and launches the missiles with the ATAC codes, Bond and Melina manage to escape by swimming they meet Milos Columbo, rival of Kristatos.
Eventually Bond and Melina manage to capture Kristatos, and Melina wants to kill him, but Bond explains that killing him won't make her any better, but still he is stabbed in the throat by Columbo. In the finale Bond and Melina return to the Havelock boat, where Melina says she would like to swim in the moonlight, which Bond accepts and undresses her and they both swim naked together.
Personality[]
Melina is always determined in her goals, such as tracking down her parents' killer. She is always worthy to accept anyone who wants to help her. She is determined, strong-willed, intelligent, courageous, cold and relaxed in her missions. She is also mysterious and charismatic and has proven to be a useful ally for both Bond and Columbo.
Trivia[]
- The name "Melina" refers to the famous James Bond Girl Honey Ryder from Dr. No, as "Melina" is the Greek word for "Honey". Coincidentally, Honey also lost her father, who was allegedly killed by the titular antagonist, and was also a scuba diver.
- Carole Bouquet had previously auditioned to play the James Bond Girl Holly Goodhead in the previous film, Moonraker, a role that eventually went to the American actress Lois Chiles.
- The plot of Melina wanting to avenge the murder of her parents seems to be prefigured in the pre credits of the film where Bond kills his archenemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld to avenge the murder of his wife while the criminal mastermind was himself seeking to kill 007 to avenge the fall of SPECTRE.
- Melina may have influenced Camille Montes from the film Quantum of Solace, who also sought revenge for the murder of her family by killing their murderer.
- The poster for the film shows Bond standing between the bare legs of a woman implicitly supposed to be Melina, although these are not the legs of Carole Bouquet but those of American model Joyce Bartle. A similar case will occur for the poster of the film The Living Daylights, which presents the James Bond Girl Kara Milovy from behind, although it is not the actress Maryam d'Abo but the American model Kathy Stangel who poses on the poster. Both posters were among the most controversial of the franchise, with the For Your Eyes Only poster prompting conservative exhibitors and newspapers to superimpose longer shorts on Melina's legs so as not to shock the public.
- Although Bond slept with Melina at the end of the film, he previously rejected the advances of Bibi Dahl, the protégé of Kristatos (probably because of her young age) while Carole Bouquet was only one year older than the actress Lynn-Holly Johnson (Bibi). It is therefore implied that Melina was significantly older than Bibi in the story. Roger Moore confirmed this by having stated in his autobiography that Bibi was only supposed to be 16 years old during the events of the film.
