Mexico City /
Jill Masterson was already dead when James Bond woke up. Lying face down on the bed, the blonde lay lifeless, completely painted gold.
Jill had made the mistake of falling into the arms of the irresistible British spy. That was why her boss, an unscrupulous villain, decided to cover her with gold paint so that she would die “from asphyxiation with her pores covered.” The image of a golden, dead woman would become an icon of crime; one more of the many ways to kill that the best-known police series in the world has proposed. It is undoubtedly the most memorable murder in the endless series of Agent 007 films, and it is a misunderstood death.
Against Goldfingeras it was called in Mexico, is one of the 1964 spy films in which James Bond appeared for the third time. On that occasion, played by Sean Conneryshowed us how you can be bold, intelligent, gallant, invincible, distinguished, all this, and more, at the same time. Whoever said that no one is perfect was wrong, James Bond has saved our planet many times, while at the same time he has seduced dozens of women and, if all that were not enough, the most desired agent knows that a martini is drunk shaken, not mixed. .
Like the others, the unforgettable film that won an Oscar for editing work is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Flemingthe writer who created the series that continues to fill movie theaters.
50 years after its exhibition Goldfinger It is considered by many to be the best James Bond film and the scene of Jill, golden and dead, as an indelible scene that marked the pages and memories of many.
in the movie Quantum of Solace A tribute to the fateful death was included showing a naked woman in a bed, covered this time in crude oil. Now it was Camille Montes who was also one of Agent 007’s closest companions and whose death once again awakened a deep desire for revenge in James Bond.
And the agent received the mission in Miami Beach to investigate the international jeweler Auric Goldfinger, suspected of smuggling gold between European countries.
At the hotel where 007 was staying he sees how Goldfinger cheats in a game of Gin Rummy helped by the blonde henchwoman Jill Materson (Shirley Eaton). It is then that Bond blackmails Goldfinger by turning him in to the police for his trick while at the same time seducing Jill with overwhelming charm.
In revenge, Goldfinger orders his servant Oddjob to kill Jill by painting her completely in order to suffocate her with gold paint.
In Ian Fleming’s book the sinister order is given with peculiar and mistaken knowledge of things:
“He ordered his Korean servant to paint Jill’s body with gold paint. If you cover someone completely in paint, your skin won’t be able to breathe and you’ll die.” (Chapter 8, “Death for Gold”; from Goldfingerby Ian Fleming)
This way of thinking is repeated in the book and has been a constant in the reviews that have led us to believe that blocking the skin with a paint cover would prevent breathing, causing death. It is not the author’s only mistake. The series is full of all kinds of misadventures that most of the time delight viewers. However, the idea of death by asphyxiation is widely accepted by people who mistakenly think that the skin breathes.
A woman painted completely in gold may present health problems, but it will not be due to asphyxiation.
Perspiration is the most important cooling system our body has. Upon detecting an increase in temperature, the hypothalamus triggers sweat production. This is produced by sweat glands, located in the deepest layers of the skin: the dermis and epidermis. Sweat, which is made up of water, mineral salts and toxins, is expelled through the pores of our skin. When sweat evaporates from the surface of our skin, it releases excess heat and keeps our temperature constant.
With vasodilation, capillaries grow, these are smaller diameter blood tubes that are near the surface of the skin. The blood circulating through them is closer to the outside air than the blood in the rest of our blood vessels. As the capillary dilates, a greater amount of blood is exposed to the air, which allows it to cool and our body temperature to be maintained.
The golden girl did not die from asphyxiation or hyperthermia or hypothermia. The director’s advisors asked that the actress’s abdomen be free of paint – just in case. The environment in which the movie scene was filmed was cool enough to maintain the actress’s temperature and there were doctors ready to act if necessary. After filming, the paint was removed from the skin, but all that did not prevent the legend from being generated according to which Shirley Eaton died as a result of the procedure.
There may be a thousand ways to die, but death by cutaneous asphyxiation is not one of them.
Happy day of the dead!
AQ