#42: Leon: Version Integrale (1994/1996) June 26, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Action, Drama, Crime, 5 stars, 1990s, 2008, extended/director's cuts , trackback1994 / 1996 | Luc Besson | 127 mins | DVD
I first saw Leon about 10 years ago, back when video was still an acceptable way of watching things. A friend leant it to me, insisting it was a film I absolutely had to see, and he wasn’t wrong. It’s remained one of my favourite films ever since, though typically I haven’t watched it more than once or twice in the intervening decade. (It also fostered a love for Sting’s closing song, Shape of My Heart, which is criminally missing from a Greatest Hits CD my dad owned (even though his dire song from Demolition Man is on there), and in moderately recent years was indifferently reused by both Sugababes and Craig David.)
I became aware of this extended cut a few years ago, a little while before it was released on R1 DVD. Having held out for a UK R2 release for about half a decade now, I gave in and bought the (apparently superior, and also in a Steelbook, which always has a way of persuading me) German R2. It’s labelled as a “Director’s Cut” but, as Besson states in the relatively lengthy booklet (translated with the aid of Babel Fish), “the second version is neither better nor worse than the original” — it’s not a preferred cut, just a different, extended one.
But personally, I prefer this version. Not because there’s anything wrong with the original — far from it — but because this one has more. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing of course, but I don’t think that’s happened here. The additions build on the characters and relationships, primarily between the two leads, and also add extra doses of humour and action. Besson wasn’t necessarily wrong to remove these things from his original cut — the extent of Leon and Mathilda’s relationship is especially controversial for some, and the extended scenes of Leon training Mathilda as a Cleaner are arguably extraneous — but they all add to the experience. Wisely, he doesn’t seem to have touched what was already there. Everything that was great about the original — from the astounding performances of Jean Reno, Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman, to the thrilling action sequences, and plenty else in between — remains intact. They’ve not been buggered about with, just expanded around.
Ultimately, the reason I prefer this version is quite simple: I love the film and the characters, I could happily take more of them, and I very much enjoyed all of the added material. I can understand objections to the insinuations about Leon and Mathilda’s relationship, but I didn’t find it any creepier here than it was before (besides which, any paedophilic notions come from her and he quashes them). The quality of the performances in the new scenes, plus other solid additions, make all the new bits worthwhile. The version integrale isn’t too much of a good thing, then, just more of a great thing. To my mind, Leon (in either cut) is unquestionably essential.
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It’s been a favourite film of mine ever since I saw it at the cinema, and, like you, I’ve held out for far too long for a UK release of the extended cut. Thanks for posting this review, which reminded me that I hadn’t looked for a decent import of it in quite a while. I finally plucked up the courage and ordered the German 2-discer…
…and then noticed this little annoyance over on IMDb:
“All German versions miss a small scene where Mathilda tells Leon how old she is.”
Ruddy typical
. Can you confirm whether or not this scene was in the version you just watched? If it’s missing, I think I might just cancel that order before it’s too late.
There’s a scene where she lies and says she’s 18, and he accepts that. I don’t recall a scene where she says her real age (to Leon, anyway — I think she tells Stansfield, or he already knows — something like that!)
Ah right, thanks for that. I may have to dig out my DVD of the UK theatrical cut, to see if there’s a scene where she states her actual age, and the German censors had a problem with its inclusion. It’s been a long time since I watched the UK cut, and I think that I vaguely remember her actual age being mentioned, but I can’t remember to whom or whereabouts in the movie.
Here’s hoping IMDb is mistaken - after all, it wouldn’t be the first time
. I’ll let you know if I can find the scene in the UK theatrical cut. Or even if I don’t, for that matter.
Right, having skipped through the UK theatrical cut at 2x speed with the subtitles enabled, I can only find two instances where Mathilda’s age is referred to, and neither is to Leon.
At the 1:18:54 mark, just after Leon has rescued Mathilda from the DEA building, Stansfield pays Tony a visit during a birthday party and says the following:
“…A few hours later, a little 12-year-old girl comes into my office, armed to the teeth, with the firm intention of sending me straight to the morgue.”
And then near the end of the movie, at the 1:36:49 mark, when Mathilda goes to visit Tony and implies that she could “clean” for him like Leon, Tony shouts:
“I ain’t got no work for a 12-year-old kid, so get it out of your goddamned head!”
I wonder if Germany only ever had the extended cut, and their version of the extended cut has always omitted this “missing” scene where Mathilda admits her real age to Leon (presumably after she’s tried to unsuccessfully convince him that she’s 18, at some point in this longer cut?)
Unsurprisingly, both of those scenes are also in the extended cut.
The moment I was thinking of where she tells Leon she’s 18 is 44 minutes into the longer cut (I’m not sure there are many/any new bits before it either, so it might be around there in the original cut), when Mathilda’s just finished filling out the forms in the first hotel (the one where, later, she tells the concierge that Leon’s her lover).
In the theatrical cut, the only thing that happens after Mathilda fills in the forms is that she sqauts in front of Leon and the following conversation takes place:
MATHILDA: “Leon, I want you to teach me how to be like you. I wanna be strong like you, smart like you.”
LEON: “Mathilda-”
MATHILDA (interrupting): “I know I’m not strong enough yet, but I could learn the basics, the theory. What do you think? Just the theory. I need this, Leon. I need time to get my head together.”
LEON: “Yeah, and I need… a drink.”
MATHILDA: “Don’t move. I’ll go get one.” (walks out of room)
The movie then cuts to a scene at Tony’s place, a close-up of Leon clinking a glass of milk against Tony’s drink, accompanied by a “Salute” from Leon.
Excised scene or not, I’m looking forward to seeing the longer cut
.
Wow, I haven’t seen this film since well back into the 90s. In fact, I can hardly remember anything about it. May be time for a rewatch, methinks.