Tagline:
If you want the job done right, hire a professional.

Wide Release Date:
September 14, 1994

Directed by:
Luc Besson
Written by:
Luc Besson
Produced by:
Patrice Ledoux

Starring:
Jean Reno
Gary Oldman
Natalie Portman
Danny Aiello

PREGAME THOUGHTS

I’ve only watched this movie once, but I loved it. Jean Reno was great. Natalie Portman was great. Gary Oldman was grrreeeaatt. I like that Léon drinks nothing but milk. I like Mathilda’s haircut. I like the faces and contortions of Stan when he bites down on that pill. I like the plant that Léon carries everywhere. Just a fantastic fucking movie all around. I can’t wait to watch it again.

THE 500(ish)-WORD SYNOPSIS

Léon (Jean Reno) is a professional. Does that mean, like a lawyer or a dentist? Almost! He’s a hitman, and he’s really good at it for the sole reason that he hasn’t died yet. He works for Old Tony (Danny Aiello) of the Italian Mafia. He lives in an apartment down the hall from a 12-year-old girl named Mathilda (Natalie Portman) and her shitty family. Mathilda’s father has been storing cocaine for corrupt DEA agents and there’s a brick missing. The next day at noon, while Mathilda is out shopping for groceries, the DEA storms the apartment and DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman) guns down his whole family with a shotgun (including Mathilda’s 4-year-old brother) before searching the apartment for the missing brick. Mathilda returns from shopping and, seeing the damage at the apartment’s front entrance, passes right by to enter Léon’s apartment. He takes her in somewhat reluctantly.

Oink oink, little lady! Welcome to Casa de Léon!

After a fashion, Léon gets cornered into agreeing to Mathilda’s wishes to care for her and to teach her everything he knows about being a “cleaner”. She, in return, does chores, gets groceries, and even teaches Léon how to read (which he does in about two days). They check into a hotel until the coast is clear at the apartment building. Mathilda learns how to snipe and to clean guns. She develops a crush on Léon and declares her love for him, but since he isn’t a creep he doesn’t buy into this childish nonsense.

Eventually, after feeling like she’s ready, and behind Léon’s back, Mathilda grabs a bag of guns, leaves a note for Léon, and heads over to the DEA office with the intention to kill Stansfield. It doesn’t work very well; Stansfield corners her in the bathroom and scares the living daylights out of her. Stansfield only leaves when he hears that one of his men was killed in Chinatown. And when two more of Stansfield’s men die at the hands of Léon while he rescues Mathilda, Stansfield’s out for fucking blood. He tortures Old Tony into giving up Léon’s whereabouts.

Ok, we got our eyes on Anakin Skywalker. Snipe that fucker before it’s too late.

Léon and Mathilda are back at the apartment, but Stansfield has hired a mercenary team to infiltrate and take Léon in. Léon helps Mathilda escape while deftly avoiding death himself. When the mercenaries blow up the apartment, the injured Léon is able to dress as a mercenary and sneak downstairs unrecognized by everyone (EVERYONE!!!)… except Stansfield. Stansfield catches up with Léon in the parking garage and shoots him in the back. As he lies dying, Léon gives Stansfield a grenade pin and reveals a belt of explosives strapped to his waist. A gift from Mathilda. Kablooie.

Léon had left his money to Old Tony with instructions to give it to Mathilda if something happens. He refuses to hire Mathilda as a hitman when she asks, but he does agree to give the money to her in installments as she grows older. Mathilda returns to school. She plants Léon’s houseplant in the field outside.

TOM’S DISCUSSION CORNER

TOPIC 1 — General Movie Thoughts

The only other time I watched (and enjoyed) this movie, I spent most of the time extraordinarily preoccupied with the unwanted scenario of even a hint of Léon and Mathilda engaging in a romantic relationship. Let me get that out of the way right now. If there was any indication that something inappropriate was going to happen I would’ve lost my fucking shit.

Luckily, it’s entirely one-sided on Mathilda’s part, and it’s entirely misplaced. She’s a 12-year-old who got rescued by her hero, and she’s likely confusing romantic love with platonic father-daughter-type love. Presumably, she never experienced this kind of love with her own shitty father. It does make sense, although there are a couple of scenes that skirt to line too close for comfort, such as Mathilda singing to Léon à la Marilyn Monroe to JFK. Or when she lies on the bed and professes her love to him, which is reacted promptly by Léon spitting out his milk. That is the correct response!

Those other 7th Graders won’t mess with me anymore!

I learned through the IMDb Trivia section, as you will see later, that there actually were some more suggestive scenes in the original script, so fuck Luc Besson forever. Terrible.

Anyway, once I let my guard down that the movie wasn’t going to turn into Pedophile Hour, I was very pleased with it. Portman’s acting debut as the street smart Mathilda was an incredible performance, showing that she can be both be precocious and emotionally devastated. Jean Reno made a very plausibly masterful, if not possibly a little bit mentally stunted, hitman. It’s very endearing movie despite it’s graphic subject matter. I can’t think of many other movies that shows both a girl dancing like Charlie Chaplin and a woman in a bathtub getting blown the fuck away by a shotgun.

TOPIC 2 — Gary Oldman’s Performance

My favorite moment in the entire movie is when Stan bites down on that pill for the first time. I had to re-watch it few times just to get everything I could out of it. The grunts, the faces, the body contortions. I’m getting all sweaty and red just thinking about it! I tried to imitate it once and I hurt my back for a couple of hours. And when it comes to hurt backs, I HAVEN’T GOT TIME FOR THAT MICKEY MOUSE BULLSHIT.

Give me some of that sweet, sweet benzodiazepine!

I’ve only seen, like, four movies in my lifetime, but Gary Oldman as Norman Stansfield is my favorite movie villain that I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching, and I’ve seen both The Dark Knight and A Goofy Movie. Man, what a performance. Reportedly, the scene in the DEA building bathroom shows Natalie Portman’s real reactions to Oldman’s acting. He scared the shit out of her and he used it! Per Portman, “Working with Gary Oldman was probably the easiest acting experience of my life… I don’t think I had to act at all in that scene.”

He should’ve won an award for that. I think everyone would agree. EVERYONE!!!

You’re such a pretty little girl… can I feast upon your skin?

IMDb TRIVIA FUNHOUSE!

According to Jean Reno, he decided to play Léon as if he were “a little mentally slow” and emotionally repressed. He felt that this would make audiences relax and realize that he wasn’t someone who would take advantage of a vulnerable young girl. Reno claims that for Léon, the possibility of a physical relationship with Mathilda is not even conceivable.
Yeah, and thank fucking God, dude. The unbelievable potential of this movie to get super fucking creepy is avoided (against all odds and initial plans) and I’m forever grateful for it. I already addressed that above, but it bears repeating.

Natalie Portman beat out 2000 other actresses for the role of Mathilda.
As in, it was a fist fight to the death. This is how Heather O’Rourke actually died!

According to Luc Besson, the role of Léon was always intended for Jean Reno and no one else. However, according to the Fact Track on the Deluxe Edition DVD, both Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves were extremely interested in the role.
Yuck, Mel Gibson? Do you know how much anti-Semitism would have been prevalent on set with Israeli-born Natalie Portman? He would’ve pushed for Léon draping a Nazi flag over his shoulders during every milk-drinking scene.

Take this phone and order me a pepperoni pizza before I slice your throat.

In the original script, Léon accidentally walks in on Mathilda when she is in the bathroom. As Léon opens the door, Mathilda is naked and is brushing her hair. He takes a towel and gives it to her.
Fuck you, Luc Besson.

When the film was first tested in Los Angeles, California, USA, the version that was screened included a short scene where Mathilda asks Léon to be her lover. However, the audience became extremely uncomfortable and began to laugh nervously, completely destroying the tone of the film.
Fuck you, Luc Besson.

In the original script for the film, Léon, and Mathilda – who was written as a 13/14 year old – actually become lovers and have sex. These are the lines: “She stands up and modestly gets off her briefs without taking off her dress. Léon cries, unable to oppose her. Mathilda is too young, but she’s also too beautiful and lovely and sweet and tender… She sweetly, very sweetly, gets on him… Léon embraces her. He’s full of happiness, shame, so many emotions, he can’t control very well. But, hell, how beautiful it is seeing them sweetly making love.”
OK, that’s it, I’m done. Atrocious.

IS IT WORTH A WATCH?

Yes, watch this movie. The story is great. Everyone in it is fantastic. Stellar debut performance from Natalie Portman. Gary Oldman’s best role even though I’ve only seen him in roughly three roles.

Just watch the fucking movie.