Movies - Léon

	Movies - Léon

Léon (aka The Cleaner, aka The Professional, aka Léon the Professional) is a 1994 film written and directed by French director Luc Besson, starring Jean Reno and Gary Oldman, as well as Natalie Portman in her first starring role.

Léon is to some extent an English-language variation on the theme of Besson's earlier film, Nikita
. Besson has said he considers Jean Reno's character in Nikita (a cleaner) to be a 'cousin' of Leon.

Plot summary

In the film, Léon (played by Reno), a "cleaner" or a professional hitman, begrudgingly saves the life of a twelve-year-old girl, Mathilda (played by Portman), after her family is killed by crooked DEA agents, and she pressures him into taking care of her. She tries to convince him to teach her his trade so she can avenge her brother's murder; in return, she helps him with his house work, and may teach him a little humanity as well.

According to Luc Besson's first script-draft, the hitman's full name is Leone Montana (making him of Italian origin), abbreviated to Léon. The acute accent is presumably due to the influence of Besson's mother-tongue, French.

Cast

Jean Reno
as Léon
Gary Oldman
as Norman Stansfield
Natalie Portman
as Mathilda
Danny Aiello
as Tony

Version intégrale

There exists a longer edition of the movie, often referred to as the "international version" or "version intégrale", that has approximately twenty minutes of additional footage that was removed from the original cut with sensitive American audiences in mind.

Luc Besson often releases extended versions of his movies after their original theatrical runs. They are usually called "long versions", or "version longue", and get limited runs in normal cinemas of large cities. The existence of an extended version does not necessarily indicate the original one having been somehow censored, although in Léon's case the shorter original edit was done minding the American audience. Besson does not consider that cut defective or corrupt in any way, however, just more condensed and less elaborate.

Extended versions are targeted at fans which endure and enjoy a slower-paced show, Eric Serra's music and the general climate, like in The Big Blue
. Léon received its theatrical release in France and worldwide as the normal version, not the longer cut.

Longer Cut/Extended Cut has been released on DVD in 2005 Deluxe Edition released by Columbia Pictures with Gaumont

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Léon ]

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