2024, Léon is still a film adored by its fans.
The thriller, by Luc Besson, unfolding the journey of a forty-year-old hitman who becomes infatuated with an 11-year-old pre-teen, dates from 1994. Thirty years later, his problematic naturenamely a pedophile romanceis singled out. Including by its main performer, Natalie Portmanwho regularly discusses fans creepy of Léon. During a masterclass in 2021, the actress looks back on her work with the French actor Jean Reno.
Natalie Portman: revelation of Léon
Natalie Portman was only 11 years old when she starred in the thriller Léon. A film with some scenes of rare violence such as the massacre of its character's family, Mathilda. Alongside Jean Reno, who embodies the hitman with a big heart, Léonthe then budding actress shines brightly. The star of the film is her!
She is the revelation of this film released in 1994. A revelation at a young age that brings its heroine into pop culture. And the actress in the league of actresses to follow at the time. The following year, Natalie Portman played the daughter-in-law ofAl Pacino -just that!- in another thriller, very nervous, Heat directed by Michael
Mann.
Léonfilm with a problematic nature
Three decades later, despite a stainless cult among some, Léon is pointed out. Normal: the romance between the killer and the girl is pedophilia. In 95, Les Inrocks
reveal that there is a sex scene between the two characters in the scénario original. But it's Natalie Portman who talks about it best The Hollywood
Reporter.
The interpreter of Mathilda regularly mentions this film which “gave him a career”. But she also talks about the movie's creepy fan letters when she was just 13: “I enthusiastically opened my first fan letter… to read the fantasy of a man who dreamed of raping me.” She added: “It's complicated for me to talk about it.”
Natalie Portman on Jean Reno in
Léon
Furthermore, the actress Maïwennthen married to Luc Besson, director, 32 years old at the time, she 15, says that
Léon is inspired by their romance. Romance disavowed by the actress's parents. This anecdote adds a layer to the problematic moral nature of the film. In 2021, during a masterclass, Natalie Portman talks about Jean Reno on the set.
“I watched Jean's game a lot [Reno, NDLR]
because I didn't know anything about it.”, says the actress. “He was very minimalist, very naturalistic. I think I was greatly influenced, for what I wanted to do later, by seeing him do it.”
This does not return to the filming of the most intimate scenes – and borders – between the two on the set of
Léon.
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