Bond's reaction when Trevelyan is supposedly killed during the opening sequence. It's very brief, but it's enough to tell you that they were very good friends, making the revelation of the latter's betrayal all the more wrenching.
Nine years after the mission at Arkangelsk, it's clear that Bond still bears a heavy burden on himself over Trevelyan's death. Upon being presented with a lead suspect by M in the GoldenEye case, Ourumov, Bond's demeanor rapidly turns subtlety incandescent. The mere image of his close friend's killer is enough to provoke him into a state of tranquil fury. M proposing that her analysts ruled his involvement out due to his apparently sensitive political ambitions invites a flippant rebuke from Bond. The conversation consequently devolves into a mutual strafing of barbs to one another's supposed competency for their position. After a brief pause, M outlines the operation and sternly reminds him not to let himself get lost in his mission, for his sake.
M:[...] And if you should come across Ourumov, guilty or not, I don't want you running off on some kind of vendetta. Avenging Alec Trevelyan will not bring him back.
Natalya mourning her murdered friends in the ruined satellite control base of Severnaya, accompanied by the sad "Severnaya Suite" theme. She even takes the time to cover the body of one especially close friend before she climbs her way out of the smoldering ruins.
Bond confronting Trevelyan amid a junkyard filled with ruined Soviet statues. A scene filled with fitting symbolism, and Bond looks utterly betrayed throughout.
Bond: How did the MI-6 screening miss that your parents were Lienz-Cossacks?
Trevelyan:Once again your faith is misplaced;they knew. We're both orphans, James. But where your parents had the luxury of dying in a climbing accident, mine survived the British betrayal and Stalin's execution squads. But my father couldn't let himself or my mother live with the shame of it. MI-6 figured I was too young to remember. And in one of life's little ironies, the son went to work for the government whose betrayal caused the father to kill himself and his wife.
Think of this reveal from Bond's point of view: He clearly spent nine years mourning Alec, probably feeling responsible for his death (it's shown that he was even going to surrender and risk the mission's failure rather than let his friend die) and angry that he's never been able to avenge him. And now, just when it seems as if he'll finally be able to kill the man who murdered him and get some closure, he's treated to a horrible gut punch when said friend turns up alive and well, now in charge of a dangerous criminal syndicate, only now he absolutely hates his former friend's guts. Those nine years of mourning, guilt, anger, and probably shame all come down to nothing, and the revelation clearly hits Bond like a truck.
Natalya asks James how he can constantly close out other people. He says that it keeps him alive, to which Natalya replies, "No—it's what keeps you alone."
Eric Serra's "The Experience of Love" playing over the closing credits. It's a beautifully somber tune that closes out the deeply personal ordeal that Bond has just overcome.
Trevelyan's condescending jab about Bond's alcoholism and constant womanizing, correctly deducing that he does it to hide the grief of losing Tracy di Vincenzo, the one woman he truly loved. For an added dose of Reality SubtextJames Bond’s actor lost his wife due to ovarian cancer in 1991, four years before Brosnan’s first time acting as 007.
