Léon (1994)

Director:

Luc Besson

Writer:

Luc Besson (writer)

Release Date:

18 November 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

If you want a job done well hire a professional.

Plot:

Professional assassin Leon reluctantly takes care of 12-year-old Mathilda, a neighbor whose parents are killed, and teaches her his trade.

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Revenge | Apartment | Hitman | Neighbor

Awards:

2 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Jean Reno	...	Léon
Gary Oldman	...	Stansfield
Natalie Portman	...	Mathilda
Danny Aiello	...	Tony
Peter Appel	...	Malky
Willi One Blood	...	1st Stansfield man
Don Creech	...	2nd Stansfield man
Keith A. Glascoe	...	3rd Stansfield man (Benny)
Randolph Scott	...	4th Stansfield man
Michael Badalucco	...	Mathilda's Father
Ellen Greene	...	Mathilda's Mother
Elizabeth Regen	...	Mathilda's Sister
Carl J. Matusovich	...	Mathilda's Brother
Frank Senger	...	Fatman
Lucius Wyatt Cherokee	...	Tonto (as Lucius Wyatt 'Cherokee')

Also Known As:

Léon (UK)
Leon: The Professional (USA) (longer version)
The Professional (USA)
El perfecto asesino (Argentina) (South America: Spanish title) (Uruguay) [es]
Leon - Der Profi (Austria) (Germany) [de]
O Profissional (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
El profesional (Léon) (Spain) [es]
Le professionnel (Canada: French title) [fr]
Leon (Finland) [fi]
Leon (Czech Republic) [cs]
Leon (Slovakia) [sk]
Leon (Greece) [el]
Leon zawodowiec (Poland) [pl]
Leon, a profi (Hungary) [hu]
Sevginin gücü (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated R for scenes of strong graphic violence, and for language.

Runtime:

110 min | France:136 min (uncut version) | 133 min (International version) | Turkey:100 min (TV version)

Country:

France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

South Korea:18 (original rating) | Brazil:14 | Iceland:16 | Australia:M (tv rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Philippines:R-18 | Italy:T | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-15 (director's cut) | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) (2002) | South Korea:18 (director's cut) | UK:15 (DVD re-rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Chile:18 | France:-12 (original version) | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB (director's cut) | Israel:PG | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (original rating) | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Canada:16+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

1 Centre Street, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Gaumont

Trivia:

During the scene when Stansfield (Gary Oldman) 'interrogates' Mathilda's father (Michael Badalucco), Oldman smells the father, and gets extremely physically close to him. According to Badalucco, he had no idea that Oldman was going to smell him, nor that he was going to get as close as he did. Badalucco says that in the film, his look of discomfort during the scene is completely genuine, as he felt decidedly intimidated by Oldman, and the physical proximity between the two made him very nervous.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: According to the headmistress's phone call, the Spenser School is supposed to be in Wildwood New Jersey, but the end of the film shows that it overlooks Manhattan. Wildwood is a oceanfront community at almost the southernmost tip of New Jersey, over 150 miles from NYC.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Tony: Allora, come stai, Leone?
Léon: Bene.
[Tony puts out his cigarette in an ashtray]
Tony: OK. OK. Let's talk business.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Natalie Portman: Starting Young (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Shape Of My Heart

a symphony in film

luc besson will never top this movie. This is his benchmark, his classical composition. Look at the precise, intricate scenes. It's a symphony in cinema. Straight off, it's action. Intelligently shot, and scripted. It makes everything that follows hard to live upto. But it does so easily. It's stylish without being showy, it's deep without being sentimental. And it's just hugely enjoyable. Seeing the friendship between newly orphaned mathilda and skilled assasin leon bloom, is tenderly done. At risk of slipping into a sappy bond, besson keeps it easy on the emotions, without coming off as shallow.

The actors are all spot on, most notably the debut from a young natalie portman as mathilda. Showing an angry, sad, pent up, in love girl is no simple task but she breezes through it, touching all the right notes. And jean reno as the title character, is minimal but very effecting. Hard to understand, but easy to relate too. But gary oldman steals it, with his glorious overacting. He's as scary as he is determind. His line delivery is almost perfect. And his fate is very fitting. If only they made more intelligent action movies, then they could contend with this film. But as it stands right now, leon is one of the best action dramas ever made.