The women of the James Bond movies fall into many categories – wise cracking moll types (Pussy Galore, Tiffany Case), female Tarzans (Honey Ryder), voluptuous sirens (Fiona Volpe, Tatiana Romanova) and sultry, sensual and sexy enemy agents. Kristina’s Magda falls into the latter category. She’s also a bit of a chameleon.
When we first meet her at Sotheby’s, she walks into the art auction as the sophisticated girl Friday of Louis Jourdan’s Kamal Khan. Later in Udaipur, she lures James Bond (Roger Moore) to bed, where she reveals the tattoo on her buttocks. “What’s that?” Bond asks. “Why that’s my little ‘Octopussy,’” she replies. Later, she leans off the hotel balcony, falls backwards and literally unravels her sari as a convenient escape ladder.
We later learn that Magda is a busy girl – when she’s not doing Khan’s bidding, she’s the trusted number two of Maud Adams’ title character – the leader of India’s Octopus cult – a gang of women. In the Octopussy circus – their effective cover – Magda is a marvelous acrobat, dancer and pick pocket, who demonstrates her skill on the commander of a U.S. Air Force Base in West Germany (Bruce Boa) – moments before James Bond is presented with one of his most dangerous challenges – disarming Khan’s A-bomb while wear a clown suit.
With no disrespect to Maud Adams, I believe Kristina stole the movie right out from under her. So let’s raise a toast to one of Sweden’s most memorable exports.