The City

Cinema’s Love Affair with Monaco: From Hitchcock to Bond. Part II – Bond’s Riviera Rendezvous: The License to Seduce

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by Vladyslava Garkusha Editor-at-Large
May 09, 2025
Cinema’s Love Affair with Monaco: From Hitchcock to Bond. Part II – Bond’s Riviera Rendezvous: The License to Seduce

Photo credits: James Bond Wiki. The Monte Carlo Casino in GoldenEye (1995).

Welcome to Cinema’s Love Affair with Monaco, a captivating exploration of how the Principality’s unparalleled beauty has inspired some of the most iconic moments in film history. In this series for Monaco Voice, we journey through the realms of elegance and intrigue, where Monaco’s timeless allure becomes an essential character in Hollywood’s cinematic legacy.

Monaco has always been cinematic, but nowhere has it felt more like an extension of character than in the James Bond universe. Though Fleming’s Bond rarely stepped foot in Monaco in the novels, the cinematic Bond has always hovered near its marbled salons and whispering baccarat tables. GoldenEye (1995) made the connection explicit, with Pierce Brosnan’s 007 gliding into a fictional casino whose baroque interiors and Riviera backdrop bore an unmistakable resemblance to Monte-Carlo.

It isn’t just the opulence. It’s the coded elegance. The casino isn’t merely where games are played - it’s where masks are worn. In Monaco, as in Bond’s world, appearances are rarely accidental.

Photo credits: Huntingbond. Bond arrives at the Casino de Monte-Carlo. 

Fleming, who himself was a creature of polished contradictions - naval intelligence and Savile Row - understood that luxury is its own kind of weapon. In this sense, Monaco is perfect territory: seductive yet strategic, beautiful but observant. 

Bond’s presence in Monaco is therefore less a narrative device than a symbolic return. Both are global icons of suave danger. Both wear tuxedos not as costumes, but as armor.

And when Bond raises a glass - vodka martini, shaken - in a salon gilded in Belle Époque grandeur, we know it’s not just a toast to the mission. It’s a nod to the setting that made style a form of espionage.

Cinema’s Love Affair with Monaco: From Hitchcock to Bond. Discover Monaco’s cinematic magic, where elegance meets intrigue. From Hitchcock’s iconic scenes to Bond’s thrilling adventures, this column explores how the Principality shaped Hollywood’s most unforgettable moments.

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Vladyslava Garkusha

Editor-at-Large

Vladyslava Garkusha is an Actress, Model, TV Host, and Editor-at-Large of Monaco Voice and The Monegasque magazines. A blend of Cinema, L'amour, L'art de vivre, World, and The People.  

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MonacoVoice™

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