Léon: The Professional
Léon: The Professional is a 1994 French English-language crime thriller written and directed by Luc Besson. Jean Reno plays Léon, a solitary hitman in New York who shelters twelve-year-old Mathilda (Natalie Portman) after her family is murdered by a corrupt DEA agent (Gary Oldman). Their uneasy bond forms the core of a tightly constructed, visually controlled film that balances domestic intimacy with sudden violence. Shot largely in France and New York, it was produced by Patrice Ledoux for Gaumont, with cinematography by Thierry Arbogast and music by Éric Serra. Though commercially successful and critically divisive, its enduring interest lies in its formal discipline and the unresolved tension between its moral premise and its stylistic execution.