The Professional (Leon)
Mathilda, a 12-year-old girl, is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. Léon and Mathilda form an unusual… More Details »
Claude Besson, John Garland, Bernard Grenet
Mathilda, a 12-year-old girl, is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. Léon and Mathilda form an unusual relationship, as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.
Willi One Blood
Don Creech
Keith A. Glascoe
Randolph Scott
Michael Badalucco
Mathilda checks herself and Léon in under the name "MacGuffin". "MacGuffin" is a movie term coined by Alfred Hitchcock for a device that interests the films characters - especially the antagonists - and thus drives the plot forward. Its actual nature is not really the subject of the film, and does not really matter to the audience. (Other directors, such as George Lucas, invest more meaning in the nature of the MacGuffin.)
Mathilda never replaces the floorboard in her old apartment. When she is surprised there, she picks up the money and goes around the corner. The board would have been in the way and the hiding place obvious to the three men.
Léon: And stop saying "okay" all the time. Okay?
Mathilda: Okay.
Léon: Good.
With some surprisingly strong character interaction, there's a lot to like about this movie, at least for those willing to look beyond all the bloodshed.
Besson has a natural gift for plunging into drama with a charged-up visual style.