**This article includes spoilers for the movie Leon The Professional
Leon the Professional is a formalistic film that was released in 1994. The film was nominated for a number of different awards and has won two, the Czech Lion Award for Best Foreign Film in 1996 as well as the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in 1995 (as cited in IMDB). It was directed by Luc Besson, a French director born in 1959 in Paris, who won several awards as a director and mastered several positions in the film industry. This film includes various genres which are thriller, drama and mystery. Diverse stories were told through Leon the Professional. We see Mathilda, 12 years old girl whose whole family members were killed by drug dealers’ hitmen, forcing her to grow up at a very young age. We also discover Leon, an old hitman that lives next to Mathilda’s apartment and takes his orders from a gang man called Tony, saving Mathilda’s life throughout the events of the movie, and we see a relationship, that is based on common points of weakness, being built between both characters. We also see common characteristics between both characters, one of them is revenge-seeking. Besson in his film Leon the Professional claims that individuals ought to be viewed according to their identity and not as to what certain circumstances in life oblige them to do.
Leon the professional is a film, that takes place in New York, about an older hitman that saves his neighbor Mathilda’s life, a twelve years old girl whose family was killed by a gang. As the events of the film go on, we see Leon caring for Mathilda as if she is his daughter, but she falls in love with him while teaching her how to be a “cleaner”. Then, we see Mathilda failing to revenge and kill the gang that caused all of her pain. At the end, while Leon defends Mathilda from the gang he kills himself with the drug dealer whose in charge of the gang.
In an attempt to evaluate Leon the Professional, through this article I will be discussing the elements of mise-en-scene, photography, editing techniques, and sound principles in relation to the theme of the film. Leon the Professional tackles different themes under one main theme which is valuing a person due to his inner self and not due to the mask that life forces one to wear. This film is about a young girl whose family was killed because of her father dealing with drugs and how her life was saved by an older hitman called Leon. Both
characters help each other and construct a relationship based on their common goal which is revenge. Throughout the events of the film, we realize that both characters share the same weaknesses even though their ages differ. We also see how Leon is nostalgic for childhood, but at the same time, he tries to act as Mathilda’s guardian. For instance; we see Leon and Mathilda drinking milk in many scenes. This reflects how humane and pure is Leon, a hitman since milk refers to childhood. This also shows us that Leon wants Mathilda to feel safe since milk refers to nourishment. Moreover, we see a plant accompanying both characters. This plant reflects Leon’s inner self; it reflects his soul, his belief in immortality, and his hope for the upcoming days. This was proved by Leon saying that this plant is his best friend. In addition to that, this shows the viewer that Leon is very caring even though he is a hitman since he takes care of every single leaf of the plant and he carries it with him where ever he goes.
In addition, during the film events, we see Mathilda’s and Leon’s relationship improving. The director proves this point by using personal distance as a character proxemic between both characters. He also used intimate distance in some scenes to convey how Mathilda fell in love with Leon. For example, we see this in the restaurant scene, when Mathilda asks Leon to kiss her. The character’s relationship keeps on developing and it starts to become stronger at the end of the movie when Mathilda decides to kill Stansfield, the drug dealer agent that killed her family. In most of the scenes of Stansfield, Besson used low angles to show how powerful Stansfield is and how he is capable of killing every person he is annoyed by. However, when it comes to the scene where Mathilda tries to kill Stansfield, we see her wearing a red hat. This means that Mathilda was powerful but at the same time, she was in a dangerous situation since red symbolizes danger. Later on, we see Leon rescuing Mathilda and tension starts to appear between Leon and Stansfield, that seeks Leon’s death. In the last scene of the movie, when Leon dies and Mathilda plants Leon’s plant in the school’s playground, we realize that the dominant color in the scene was green, which conveys that Mathilda will always remember Leon and she will not lose hope. This scene of her makes us realize that no matter what happens, life will go on.
Besson in his movie Leon the Professional had specific aspects that he sheds light on in order to convey the theme of his film in a certain form. Besson, in his film, used a bird’s eye view angle repeatedly, especially, in the stair scenes. He used this type of angle in order to convey the mysterious mood the characters are feeling. At first, when we see a bird’s eye view of Mathilda sitting on the stairs, we think that she is just a kid sitting in a building. Therefore, the director used this type of angle to introduce us to a character that no one cares for and that is rejected by all of her family members. In addition to that, eye-level angles were used frequently to add a dramatic mood to the story. Furthermore, when it comes to shot and camera proxemics, the director focuses on using close-ups in order to display the characters’ emotions. Some say that eyes are the window to the soul. Besson applies this quote in his film by using close-ups, especially on eyes to prove the film’s theme pertinent to showing the identity of each character through their eyes. We see several close-ups of Leon’s sunglasses, these close-ups show us that Leon has a dark mystical personality.
Moreover, Besson used different key lights to convey different moods. For example, he used low-key lighting in the conversation scenes between Leon and Tony to set up a severe firm attitude. Most of the time Besson tends to dominate Mathilda by dressing her bright colors opposing Leon. The director chose bright colors for Mathilda in order to show how she influenced Leon positively and made him react to what he felt. Therefore, the audience discovers that Leon is humane because of Mathilda's involvement in his life. We also see binary composition between the two main characters. This means that both reflect each other and share common identifications. Furthermore, several camera movements were used such as tilting up from Mathilda’s feet to her face. This tilt-up was used by the director to introduce us to the character that looks like a kid but actually is as powerful as an adult since we see her trying to learn how to be a “cleaner”, so she can take her revenge and defend herself.
However, when it comes to the props and the designs, we see dark and dim locations most of the time. For example, in Tony’s restaurant, the ambiance is dark which creates a serious and rigid attitude. Whereas, when Leon and Mathilda were playing a game the wall behind Leon was yellow, which refers to positivity and joy, in order to create a joyful mood. Luc Besson chose mise en scene elements that add a mysterious dramatic atmosphere to the story of his film. Sound is as important as visuals when it comes to films.
As I mentioned above Leon the Professional won the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in 1995. We realize that non-diegetic sound was used, frequently, in Leon the Professional. The usage of the theme song “Shape of My Heart”, written by Sting and released in 1993, is an example of non-diegetic sound. There is no source for this song, that can be seen by the audience, on-screen and that is what makes it non-diegetic. Moreover, other non-diegetic sounds were implied in this film to convey the dramatic mood of the events of the movie. For instance; the theme song “Shape of My Heart” summarizes the events of the film. It also conveys the theme of the film pertinent to Leon’s good nature by saying, “I’m not a man of too many faces, the mask I wear is one”. This adds a dramatic and mysterious atmosphere to the final scene, where the theme song was applied. This theme song made the sequence of the film clearer and shows how the characters were not working as hitmen for money, but for facing the people who killed their beloved ones.
Furthermore, the lyrics of “Shape of My Heart” proves that even though Leon is a hitman that does not mean that he is evil on the inside. It also gives us a glimpse of Leon’s character; mysterious and secretive. Furthermore, it mentions that Leon is not working as a hitman in order to get money, which is shown in the movie when Leon asks Tony to give all of his savings to Mathilda if he is dead. This song refers to how Mathilda is feeling the same pain that Leon felt in the past as if Leon’s past events are repeating themselves. Moreover, the soundtrack of Leon the Professional includes music, silence, vocal sounds, and environmental sounds. All of these sounds are added to the visuals in order to make them feel natural and give them a sense of correlation.
Editing is a technique used to combine all the rushes chosen by the editor with the help of the director. There are several techniques that an editor can use in order to let
the viewer perceives the director’s vision. In Leon the Professional, which was edited by Sylvie Landra, the editing technique used was based on classical editing and continuity editing. Landra did not use any editing transitions since they do not serve the film’s content. Landra opens Leon the Professional with an establishing shot to give the audience an idea about the
film’s location, which reflects the characters’ background. We also realize that Besson applied the 180-degree rule in the production stage and Landra benefits from it, when it comes to the conversation scenes, in the post-production stage. Therefore, in order to reach the needed continuity editing in this film, screen direction was applied by Besson.
To conclude, Leon the Professional delivers the message of how people should be perceived according to their inner selves and not their outer selves. Besson applies specific elements of mise-en-scene relating it to the theme and content of the film. Moreover, sound and editing were added to the visuals to result in a very consonant piece. The content of Leon the Professional was very clear since Besson has chosen a lot of symbolic elements that refer to the theme: the plant, the sunglasses, and many other objects. The most prominent features in this movie were the bird’s eye view angle and close-up shots. All the elements lead the movie to a dramatic atmosphere.