``Léon: The Professional Complete Edition'' A quiet man and eloquent images - A strange way to charm people to evoke feelings

“Drama” that pervades action scenes

The ``Ryowings'' of ``Léon: The Professional'' can be described as a melodrama that revolves around two characters, Léon: The Professional and Matilda, and as mentioned above, the visual ``how to charm the characters'' is excellent. Jean Reno, who brought in an acting plan that involved ``daring to speak in a matter-of-fact tone, giving Matilda the initiative in the conversation, and showing that Léon: The Professional is at heart a good and gentlemanly man.'' , Natalie Portman gave an amazing performance that makes it hard to believe that this is her movie debut, and Gary Oldman's mysterious performance, which possesses a sharp character, combine to make it seem like it's either ``direction'' or ``acting.'' It has created a perfect balance that never floats.

So, what about the other wing, ``action''? Luc Besson's outstanding visual sense shines here as well.

For example, a subjective video (POV) showing only the hand holding a gun, which has become mainstream in modern action movies, is inserted at the beginning, and even in the second half, there is a scene where the person who has been shot is lying down, and the moment when the person is shot is intentionally shown. This is expressed through the movement of the subjective camera shaking and collapsing. The performance is sophisticated enough to let the audience imagine.

Other scenes include a stylish scene where Léon: The Professional is attacked by the police, hangs from the ceiling and fires two pistols, a scene where he activates the sprinklers to blind his pursuers, and a sniper's laser pointer floating in the dust cloud. There are many dramatic performances, such as scenes where the train goes up. Although there are almost no fist fight scenes, there are a series of artistically strong scenes that attract the eyes and hearts of the audience.

What both "melodrama" and "action" have in common is that they contain a strong sense of drama. Let me introduce three scenes and items that symbolize this.

First of all, there are the houseplants, which can be said to be another character of this work. Léon: The Professional's "silent friend" and a symbol of his inner desire to "someday put down roots somewhere." The sequence in which Matilda fulfills her wish after impressing upon the audience many times is truly elegant. The speed with which Sting's theme song "Shape of My Heart" comes into play in this scene is also characteristic, and fully arouses the emotions of the viewers.

Sting “Shape Of My Heart”

The second is the "ring trick."Léon: The Professional uses this as a joke to refer to pulling out the pin on a grenade, and the combination of the image of a "ring" makes it even more heartbreaking. Due to the age difference between the two and the hurdles of working as a hitman and being an ordinary person, Léon: The Professional and Matilda maintain a certain distance from each other (this can be said to be one of the most finely tuned points in the process from the script to the movie). ), the pin that Léon: The Professional is clutching can also be interpreted as a symbol of his love for Matilda.

The last part is ``How to project New York'' at the beginning and end. The film begins with an aerial shot ``entering'' New York City and ends with a shot ``looking out'' at New York City. This scene is more eloquent and dramatic than the dialogue, visually expressing that the characters are in different places at the beginning and end.

``Léon: The Professional'' has a very simple screenplay structure, with most scenes devoted to the ``everyday life'' of the killer and the girl. Even so, the reason why it is so moving is that every scene is imbued with a wealth of ``feelings''.

Reference materials

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1994/?ref_=bo_yl_table_27

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/1994W46/?ref_=bo_rl_table_1

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Leon#tab=summary

Text: SYO

Born in 1987. After The Graduate from Tokyo Gakugei University, he worked at a film magazine editorial production site and a film information site before becoming a film writer/editor. Works on a wide range of topics including interviews, reviews, columns, event appearances, and recommendation comments. Contributed to ``CINEMORE'', ``Cinema Cafe'', ``Soen'', ``FRIDAY Digital'', ``CREA'', ``BRUTUS'', etc. Twitter「 syocinema 」

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