Affectionate and gentle animal. On the anniversary of the film ”Leon”
Sometimes it's interesting to figure out what exactly makes some famous films memorable for a lifetime. "Leon", celebrating its 25th anniversary today, helped the director and screenwriter Luc Besson and actor Jean Reno to win the American audience, presented the audience with the canon villain performed by Gary Oldman and introduced the world to the talent of young Natalie Portman. Apparently, a movie about the relationship of a professional hitman and his 12-year-old student, who is just starting to discover her sexuality, would currently be somewhat out of place. But if you look at the entire last quarter of the last century, it is definitely a milestone and our pearl, which no one will take away from us. Let's try to understand what is special about "Leon".If at the first acquaintance with the audience the main character demonstrates his dexterity and brilliantly cleans the whole room from bad guys, then in the next few scenes we see personality traits that are far from characteristic of the killer. It turns out that he adores Gene Kelly's tapes, takes good care of his friend ficus, drinks only milk, sleeps while sitting and has not many interests other than the work he does for his boss and mentor Tony. As soon as Matilda enters Leon's life, we see another carefully hidden facet of his personality and, given the profession he earns, such a combination looks at least intriguing.  Matilda herself is charming for a number of reasons, and her loneliness and thirst for understanding instantly makes us feel the most tender feelings for her. Matilda's own feelings for cruel family members change from dislike to grief when she finds them murdered by Stansfield's men. So, of course, we all breathed a sigh of relief when Leon opened the door and let it into his life. As for Stansfield, in his face we have the embodiment of pure evil (a really necessary thing in a movie about a contract killer), whose maniacal irascibility, brilliantly performed by the eccentric Gary Oldman, delivers true, if slightly awkward, pleasure when watching.  "Leon" clings from the first scenes with his action and a kind of humor, but the developing relationship between Matilda and Leon is something that inexorably draws us in and hypnotizes us in a good way. In a sense, they are opposites: Leon chose total control of emotions and the abandonment of all attachments (except ficus), while Matilda is absolutely open in her nascent feminine personality. We see an adult mentor teaching a young Padawan discipline and self-control, and she awakens in him a zest for life and emotional attraction (although, speaking of this in the context of our heroes, we are still balancing a fine line).In the course of the action, some sobering moments happen, but mostly in the frame a slightly frivolous mood reigns, because of which the friendship between an adult unshaven man and a beautiful teenage girl does not seem vulgar and ambiguous. Even the scene where Leon trains Matilda, teaching her the intricacies of the craft of an assassin, looks pretty cute. At the same time, in the part of the film where Matilda enjoys life, feeling that she has finally got her place in the sun, the central thread of the story - revenge on the murderers of the family - is still not lost. The training scene demonstrates the girl's unwavering determination to see the case through and still punish Stansfield.  An attempt to restore justice on her own ends in disaster for Matilda, and after a terrible scene of exposure, Leon suddenly appears, and in an impulsive and completely ill-considered manner that is completely unusual for him. This clearly indicates that our boyfriend succumbed to emotions and is very worried about his young girlfriend. What follows is total destruction, grief and suffering. Leon is trying to defeat absolutely all the police officers who were heart-rendingly summoned by the villain Stansfield ("EEEVERYYYOOONE !!!" loves her, and helping her escape together with the bloody flower, and most importantly, promising to reunite as soon as the dust settles.  Using Hannibal Lecter's method, albeit a less bloodthirsty version, Leon is selected from building and heading for the exit, already seeing the light at the end of the path, when suddenly Stansfield appears out of nowhere and stops him with a bullet. Then it’s the turn to be surprised at the old Norman, when he suddenly notices a bunch of explosives on Leon and a grenade pin in his hand. Big bada boom. Then Matilda, already in a safe place, transplants the ficus from the pot into the ground and assures the plant that now everything will be fine. And we understand that the girl is waiting for a life in which there will be more common sense and awareness. The finale is filled with everything that a viewer could wish for - shooting with explosions, an indispensable victory for the good guys, retribution for the bad, love, self-sacrifice and the triumph of justice.Matilda's feelings for Leon were too uncomfortable for the American audience at the time, so some of the scenes illustrating them were cut from the American version. Of course, there is an independent film, in which much more explicit and ambiguous things are shown, but "Leon" was initially presented as an action, so some viewers might not be ready for such difficulties. But such a morally difficult material, of course, favorably distinguished "Leon" as an action movie and a French drama, as well as a black comedy with its own soul and heart.  When you look at the portfolio of writer and director Luc Besson, it looks like a series of hits and misses. But Leon on this roller coaster is the absolute pinnacle. We sincerely worry about the main characters, together with them we suffer from the hardships they go through, we understand and accept the not quite traditional way in which they take care of each other. On his way, Leon has learned to stay away from people, but Matilda's openness and warmth, preserved despite all her losses, teach him to live for something. It's unsettling to see a child in the midst of such violence, but it's Matilda's choice that makes the film so effective.  One of Besson's many talents is to bring humor and hope to sad and even tragic situations. It is not typical for a young girl to live with a killer, but the dynamics of their relationship becomes warm and funny when we realize that this big man is dependent on Matilda. In addition, the virtuoso direction balances the various genres so organically that the film is more perceived as a cute life sketch, rather than a typical crime thriller. The subsequent career ascent of Natalie Portman did not allow her to star in the sequel conceived by Luc Besson, but the same fact helped "Leon" to remain a unique work, not spoiled by the sequelization, and the future of Matilda now develops only in our imagination. The Topic of Article: Affectionate and gentle animal. On the anniversary of the film ”Leon”. |
