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The Professional (1994, Fr.)
(aka Leon)
In writer/director Luc Besson's provocative action
thriller - the development of a redeeming but twisted father/daughter
relationship between two very different individuals:
- the solitary title character in 'Little Italy':
illiterate NYC mob hitman-assassin (or "cleaner") Leon
Montana (Jean Reno), who worked for Mafia boss Tony (Danny Aiello)
whose operation was fronted by a grocery store and Italian restaurant
- the "Supreme Macaroni Company"; in the opening scene,
Leon (in extreme close-up) was tasked by Tony to perform a hit
for mobster Maurizio on an uncooperative, cocaine-dealing rival
known as Fatman (Frank Senger)
- the targeting of Fatman - a tense scene as Fatman
was being guarded while being given a one-hour massage by Blonde
Babe (Maïwenn); after killing all of the bodyguards, Leon stealthily
infiltrated into the room, held a knife to Fatman's throat, and compelled
him to promise Maurizio that he would never deal in town again; Maurizio
instructed Leon by phone: "Make sure he understands, then let
him go"
- the introduction of street-wise, 12 year-old Mathilda
Lando (young Natalie Portman in her film debut), sneaking a cigarette
in the stairwell of her multi-story walk-up apartment, after Leon
returned home from buying two quarts of milk in the local store;
there were signs of Mathilda's abuse - a black eye and bruises on
the side of her face
- Leon lived simply in dingy apartment #6D at the end
of the hall - he kept an arsenal of weapons around his waist, meticulously
ironed his own clothes, provided loving care for a favorite plant,
performed exercises (sit-ups on his bed, etc.), and enjoyed a Gene
Kelly movie at the theatre (It's Always Fair Weather (1955) -
an excerpt from the roller-skating song "I Like Myself")
- the set-up for a brutal murder spree - Mathilda's
drug-dealing, cocaine-addicted father (Michael Badalucco) was lying
to the DEA, led by corrupt, drug-addicted New York cop Norman Stansfield
(Gary Oldman); while stashing cocaine in his apartment for the
DEA, he was lying about cutting some of the cocaine for himself;
the father was warned that Stansfield could
"sniff out" someone who was lying - and did so literally
in the creepiest moment of the film
Mathilda's Dysfunctional Family
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Mathilda's Abusive Father
(Michael Badalucco)
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Mathilda's 'Mother'
(Ellen Greene)
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Mathilda's Half-Sister
(Elizabeth Regen)
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- the scene of the brutal killing of Mathilda's entire
family (while she was out grocery shopping), including (in order):
her whorish 'mother' Margie (Ellen Greene) in a bathtub, her aerobics-loving
older half-sister (Elizabeth Regen) and her 4 year-old brother
(Carl J. Matusovich) in the hallway, by Stansfield and his men;
before killing the father, Stansfield ominously told him: "We
said noon. I’ve got one minute past"
- the sight of fearful Mathilda walking by her apartment
door and noticing the massacre, and standing at Leon's door at the
end of the hallway, knocking and begging Leon to let her in - and
eventually finding safe refuge in Leon's apartment - although a photograph
alerted Stansfield that there were three children - and one was missing
and needed to be hunted down
- the sequences of Leon's care, protection and entertaining
of his orphaned NY neighbor Mathilda, first with his pet pig - an
oven mitt, and his slow status of becoming a father-figure for her
- Leon's initial reluctance to honor Mathilda's request
to work for him, to learn about guns (how to 'clean' or kill),
and earn money to avenge the murder of her younger brother: "How
much would it cost to hire someone to get those dirtbags who killed
my brother?...How about this: I work for you and in exchange you
teach me how to clean. What do you think? Hmm? I'll clean your
place, I'll do the shopping, I'll even wash your clothes. Is it
a deal?"
- in the middle of the night, Leon's impulsive inclination
to murder Mathilda in her bed, but he changed his mind
- the first morning together, Mathilda's announcement:
"I wanna be a cleaner" - but Leon rejected her idea: "Go
clean. But not with me. I work alone. Understand. Alone?" - she
convinced him to let her stay: "If you don't help me, I'll die
tonight. I can feel it. But I don't want to die tonight" - she
fired one of his guns out the window to prove she could do it; they
slowly bonded and became partners as they decided to move to a hotel,
the Hotel National
- the sequence of Leon teaching Mathilda how to hit
a scoped target with a rifle from a rooftop
- Mathilda's cute game of 'Guess Who I Am?" - when
she dressed up as Madonna and sang "Like a Virgin", and
then as Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday to You"; she
also impersonated Charlie Chaplin and Gene Kelly singing "Singin'
in the Rain" (the only one he recognized); he dressed up as
John Wayne and gave two clues: ("OK, pilgrim" - a quote
from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
(1962), and his familiar doorway stance from the conclusion
of The Searchers (1956))
- Leon's love of his plant: "It's my best friend.
Always happy. No questions. And it's like me, you see? No roots";
Mathilda suggested: "If you really love it, you should plant
it in the middle of a park so that it can have roots...I'm the one
you should be watering if you want me to grow"
- Mathilda's confession of love to Leon: "Léon,
I think I'm kind of falling in love with you. It's the first time
for me, you know?...Cause I feel it....In my stomach. It's all warm.
I always had a knot there and now it's gone"; she even told
the astonished hotel desk clerk: "He's my lover"; her unwise
bragging led to their having to move again
- Leon's refusal to take the $20K that Mathilda had
cleverly retrieved from her old apartment, to seek revenge against
Stansfield - he reasoned: "Revenge is not good, Mathilda. Believe,
it's better to forget...Nothing's the same after you've killed someone.
Your life is changed forever. You'lI have to sleep with one eye open
for the rest of your life"; she was adamant: "I want love
or death. That's it"; she dared him to play a deadly game of
Russian roulette (Mathilda: "If I win, you keep me with you.
For life" Leon: "And if you lose?" Mathilda: "You'll
go shopping alone. Like before"); as she was about to pull the
trigger, she told Leon: "I love you, Leon" - and at the
last possible moment, he pushed the gun away and it fired harmlessly
in another direction; she declared:
"I win"
- the quick montage sequence of Mathilda and Leon working
together to fool targets into opening their doors slightly (so that
Leon could use wire cutters to snap the door security lock)
- in an exciting sequence, Mathilda ill-advisedly pursued
Stansfield by herself into his Dept. of Justice's DEA building (by
posing as a food delivery girl), but she was personally ambushed
by him in the bathroom; he confronted her up close when she clearly
identified herself: "You killed my brother" - and he asked
pointedly: "And you wanna join him?"; he then claimed: "Because
I take no pleasure in taking life if it's from a person who doesn't
care about it"; Stansfield was interrupted with news that a
hitman had just killed Malky, one of his DEA agents involved in the
murders of Mathilda's entire family - it was possibly "personal"
Mathilda's Mission to Take Out Stansfield
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"You killed my brother"
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"I take no pleasure in taking life if it's
from a person who doesn't care about it"
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- Leon came to Mathilda's rescue after reading a note
explaining her plan to take revenge on Stansfield in his DEA office,
and killed two of Stansfield's men holding her in his office
- although Leon refused to have sex with Mathilda, who
requested it, she insisted that he do her one favor - they would
share the bed from now on
- the sequence of Stansfield's assault on Leon's hotel
room, and his exasperation that his men were being killed; he ordered
one of his subordinates to bring him ""EEEVVVVEERRRYYYY
- OOOONNNEEEEE!!!!" (echoing) in order to defeat the seemingly
invincible hitman Leon
- as Leon and Mathilda were being assaulted from every
direction, he confided in her for the first time before they separated
- showing that her humanity had rubbed off on him - finally: "You're
not going to lose me, Mathilda. You've given me a taste for life.
I want to be happy, sleep in a bed, have roots. You'll never be alone
again, Mathilda. Please, go now, baby, go! Calm down, go now. Go,
go. I'lI see you at Tony's. I'm gonna clean them all. Tony's in an
hour. I love you, Mathilda"; Mathilda responded: "I love
you too, Leon" - they said goodbye for the last time; she successfully
escaped down a ventilator shaft
- the very bloody ending with Leon's surprise self-sacrificial
death; as he was about to escape (by impersonating a wounded officer),
Leon was recognized by Stansfield and shot in the back of the head;
as Leon was dying, he spoke to Stansfield who was straddling and
standing above him: Leon: "Stansfield?" Stansfield (haughtily): "At
your service"
Leon: "This is from Matilda." (he put a grenade pin into
Stansfield's clenched fist); Stansfield opened his hand and slowly
recognized what it was, he ripped open Leon's vest, discovering several
grenades attached to his chest; he muttered "S--t" before
a massive explosion (off-screen); the pin had been pulled, and it set
off some of the grenades
- after Leon's death, Mathilda (as instructed) went
to Tony's place (who was keeping Leon's funds for her, and gave
her $100 for an allowance, and urged her to go back to school)
- she told him: "I can clean," but he refused to let
her work for him:
"I ain't got no work for a 12-year-old kid! So get it outta
your goddamn head! It's over, the game's over, Léon's dead!
Ya hear me? Come on. Come on, you think I ain't hurtin', too? But
he's dead. And you're gonna forget all this craziness and get your
little ass back to school, capiche? Now take this money and
get the hell outta here, and don't let me see your face 'till next
month"
- the scene with orphanage headmistress Margaret McAllister
(Betty Miller) at the Spencer School (Wildwood, NJ) - and Mathilda's
devastating, truthful description (after lying) about what had really
happened to her - and why she had left school: "My family got
shot down by DEA officers because of a drug problem. I left with
the greatest guy on earth. He was a hitman, the best in town. But
he died this morning and if you don't help me, I'll be dead by tonight"
- in the final scene, Mathilda walked into a field to
plant Leon's favorite houseplant in the ground outside her NJ school
(she said to herself - the film's last line: "I think we'll
be OK here, Léon") - as she had told Leon earlier: "to
give it roots"
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Leon Threatening Fatman
Introduction of Mathilda (Natalie Portman)
Leon Meeting Mathilda in Hallway
Corrupt New York DEA Agent Norman Stansfield
(Gary Oldman)
"Sniffing Out" Lies
Stansfield's Killing Spree ("One minute past (noon)")
"Please open the door"
Mathilda Finding Refuge in Leon's Apt.
Photograph of Three Children
"I wanna be a cleaner"
Partners
Practice Lessons with a Rifle on a Rooftop
Game: "Like A Virgin"
Mathilda's Confession of Love
Deadly Russian Roulette: "I love you, Leon"
Mathilda Rescued by Leon
Sharing the Same Bed
Stansfield's Assault: "(Bring me) Eeevvveerrry-yooonnneee"
Mathilda's Truthful Story to Headmistress
Mathilda: "I think we'll be OK here, Leon"
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