“込めたのは、銃弾と愛。”
リュック・ベッソンが初めてアメリカで製作したバイオレンス・アクション。ニューヨークを舞台に、凄腕の殺し屋レオンと12歳の少女マチルダの純愛と戦いを描く。大都会の片隅で出会った孤独なふたりの葛藤と壮絶なアクション・シーンがほどよくブレンドされた佳作。
製作費: $16,000,000 (24億円)
興行収入: $45,284,974 (68億円)
推定収支: $29,284,974 (44億円)
※製作費・興行収入はTMDBのデータを参照しています。収支は(興行収入 - 製作費)で算出したFindKey独自の推定値であり、広告宣伝費や諸経費は含まれません (1ドル=150円換算)。
FindKeyのエディトリアルチームがこの作品の深層や歴史を解説しています。
監督: Luc Besson
脚本: Luc Besson
音楽: Éric Serra
制作: Patrice Ledoux / Claude Besson
撮影監督: Thierry Arbogast
制作会社: Gaumont / Les Films du Dauphin
HOW TO MAKE A FEMALE ASSASSIN. TRAUMA, TRAINING THEN GET HER EXTRA ANGRY. NATILIE PORTMANS FIRST ASSASSIN ROLE AND HOPEFULLY NOT HER LAST. WE NEED A PART 2 TO THIS MOVIE.
This films stars a 12-year old Natalie Portman as Mathilda, a girl living with her abusive stepfather, a step-sister, mother, and four-year old brother. She doesn’t care for any of these people except her brother. One day, she returns home from getting the groceries to find corrupt DEA agents have killed her entire family. Key amongst those agents is Stansfield, played by Gary Oldman. Seeking refuge in the flat of a neighbour she had befriended earlier, Léon (Jean Reno), she learns that he is a hitman. She makes a deal with him: she will look after the flat by doing the domestic chores if he will teach her how to get revenge on the men who killed her brother. Strange though the synopsis may be, the relationship between Léon and Mathilda is kept innocent, and the scenes between the two are believable. Mathilda’s sexual awareness is at a nascent stage and her exposure to the sordid side of life with her recently deceased family (her step-father worked for drug-dealers) means she is perhaps not as innocent as most 12-year old girls; however, Léon is unwilling to take advantage of the situation. This means the story can focus on the platonic relationship between the two, the bond that develops between them, and how each affects the other’s life. Although it may seem a little far-fetched that a young girl would accompany a hitman during his work, Léon ensures that her assistance is required only on fairly routine hits that follow a well-defined pattern. For the more complex hits he leaves her behind. There is a thread of humour running through the film, but you must bear in mind the film is framed in the world of corruption and greed and all is not sweet and light, and graphic violence is depicted. Jean Reno is wonderful as the extremely good but placid hitman, whose whole outlook on life is changed by the young Mathilda, played wonderfully by Natalie Portman in her first film. I’ve not read it, but I understand that Eppie has a similar effect on Silas Marner, as described in the book of the same name. I found Gary Oldman’s performance histrionic, the only let-down in the film, albeit not something that spoilt the film as a whole. Recommended.
