The opening scene to the movie Léon: The Professional has to be one of the best choreographed action sequences ever put on film. Starring Jean Reno as Léon, Natalie Portman as Mathilda and Gary Oldman as the corrupt narcotics officer Norman Stansfield, the motion picture’s visually stunning aspects sets it apart from other cop narratives to demonstrate what a true plot-driven story is all about.
Today I’m proud to include Léon in my Wednesday Warriors weekly series.
Released in 1994, Léon: The Professional became one of the most provocative movies for that era. Beginning with its North American premier, critical controversy followed the film wherever it went. One of the reasons for this had to do with how the violence and language depicted in the presentation may suggest the filmmakers condoned such behavior in society. Another valid point had to do with Natalie Portman’s young age. Some critics found the twelve-year-old’s use of firearms unnerving. Lastly, and again because of Portman’s young age, those same critics found portions of her performance bordered on the sensual.
Any movie critic wondering about violence, sex, gunplay and kids have yet to watch Sergio Leone’s 1964 film A Fistful of Dollars. Produced thirty years before, it remains a classic among film buffs. Guaranteed, a more conservative audience viewed this film back then.
Anyway, back to Léon. Director Luc Besson‘s main character stands on the cusp of little boy and repressed man. He kills without conscience. He does what he is told. And he does his job well. Before Mathilda appears in his life, Léon lives a quiet existence with his plant and his routine. If anything, his daily routine is what the audience relates to the most. Waking up. Drinking milk. Putting out the plant on the ledge. They are the things the audience knows all too well. Everyone’s done it.
The difference with the audience and Léon is he knows how to kill efficiently. He knows his way around weapons. He’s a master of the set-up. And just when the audience thinks it has him figured out, in pops Mathilda, Léon’s next door neighbor from a couple of doors down the hall. Her parents die in a drug deal gone wrong and she’s on Léon’s doorstep asking for help.
Léon’s relationship with his new friend is an interesting one. Although he acts as the father figure, teaching Mathilda how to be an assassin—yes, this really happens—when he’s alone with her, he demonstrates childlike qualities that allow him to relate to her on her level. During one of their fun-filled evenings, they dress in different costumes as a way to pass the time. They each have to guess what the other has dressed up as.
If anything is true about Léon, it’s that he is a sincere man who hasn’t grown up. In that adult body dedicated to the death of others lies a boy at heart who never matured emotionally and remains stunted in development.
Léon may be a brutal killer, but his kindhearted nature toward others may be the redeeming quality that sets him apart from other assassins.
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Have you seen Léon: The Professional? If so, what did you find interesting about it?
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