Léon: The Professional

Professional killer Leon unexpectedly decides to help his 12-year-old neighbor Matilda, whose family was killed by corrupt policemen.

One of the most famous psychological thrillers in the history of cinema, interesting, however, not only for its action-packed nature. The young Natalie Portman made her brilliant debut in the film, in the role of not a good girl at all.

«Leon» is a kind of variation of the widespread cinematic genre buddy movie, in which the main plot collisions occur as a result of the interaction of two dissimilar main characters. «Leon» develops this plot in line with such movies as «Paper Moon» by Peter Bogdanovich or «Gloria» by John Cassavetes, where an adult and a child interact.

Portman's role is a mixture of Cosette and Lolita. Despite her young age (13 years), she had to smoke in the picture, swear and seduce the main character. The frightened parents insisted on their personal presence on the set and signed a contract with Besson, which contined, in particular, that their daughter could smoke only five times and without taking a drag. And immediately quit after the end of the shooting.