Léon: The ProfessionalDirected by Luc Besson

Released 14 September 1994

‘Léon: The Professional’ is to some extent an expansion of an idea in Luc Besson's earlier 1990 film, ‘La Femme Nikita’, where Jean Reno (who portrayed Léon) plays a similar character named Victor. Besson described Léon as "the American cousin of Victor. This time he's more human.“ The character Norman Stansfield (portrayed by Gary Oldman) has since been named by several publications as one of cinema's greatest villains.

“French director Luc Besson followed his international hit Nikita with his first American-set movie, Leon, a haunting and compulsive thriller that explores the relationship between the emotionally stunted hitman and his 12-year-old neighbour, Mathilda. The two masterly central performances from Reno and Portman intelligently convey how Leon's carefully constructed, reclusive existence falls apart as he lets feelings enter his life for the very first time. But it's the ultra-stylish action scenes and the series of totally breathtaking set pieces, interspersed with a provocative streak of dark humour, that propel Leon into the suspense stratosphere as Besson redefines the action genre. Funny, tragic, brilliant and unmissable.” – Radio Times

Independent Research | Analysis of a Scene

In ‘Léon: The Professional’, director Luc Besson interchanges between slow motion and real time shots when focussing on the characters of Mathilda and Léon. For example, in the shots of Mathilda, the speed of the film is slowed down which creates a sense of disorientation; this is because she is viewing the murder scene of her family, so she will feel shocked and distraught, and may be having some sort of out-of-body experience, so the slow motion could represent time slowing as she fully takes in the horror of the situation. This is the opposite to Léon as his shots are played in real time as he watches through the door, which highlights his distant and emotionless personality as a result of his career as a hitman. These shots also highlight Mathilda’s childlike innocence and Léon’s corrupt lifestyle, creating binary opposites between the characters.Besson explores the archetype of the flawed, ambiguous anti-hero through the character of Léon. Luc Besson embraces this archetype through the character of Léon, which is shown through his costume choice. Léon is wearing a white shirt and black suspenders, which could represent his internal conflict of doing the right thing; there is more white (a colour symbolic of purity and hope) which suggests he wants to help Mathilda, while there is less black (a colour that symbolises death and intimidation) which suggests he does not want to abandon her. Léon is representative of many anti-heroes who act out of revenge or selfish reasons rather than for the benefit of others, such as Rooster Cogburn from ‘True Grit’ or Harry Callahan from the ‘Dirty Harry’ series; these anti-heroes are often more interesting and relevant for audiences to watch than the more traditional, clean-cut heroes, such as Indianna Jones or James Bond, who seem artificial and hard to relate to.Besson uses lots of religious symbolism in the scene, especially once Mathilda has reached Léon’s door. The shot has been masterfully organised so that one of the villainous henchmen is positioned over her left shoulder, which could be seen to represent the devil, who many believe watches from over our left shoulder; this suggests that Mathilda cannot escape from her awful situation and her only hope of escape is in Léon’s apartment. Also, as Léon opens the door at the end, Mathilda’s face is covered in a bright light, which could be seen to represent the light from Heaven, highlighting her redemption and that she has been saved from her cruel fate.

Devil on her left shoulder; light from the door could represent Heaven

The various shots used throughout the scene help to add tension and apprehension to the emotional scene. For example, a point-of-view shot is used for the character of Mathilda as she looks in to her apartment and sees her dead family; the fact that the bodies are revealed to the audience at the same time as Mathilda means we get to experience the pain and sadness with her, which makes the character more relatable. Also, the tentative reveal of the bodies reminds us that it is a child who is seeing death for the first time, which makes the scene even more shocking and harrowing to watch. Also, once Mathilda has seen the bodies, a high angle shot is used to make her look weak and vulnerable, emphasising her young age and childlike innocence, which seems wildly out-of-place in such a nightmarish scene.

Low angle shot (weak/vulnerable); point-of-view shot