Léon

Léon (aka The Cleaner, aka The Professional) (1994) is a film written and directed by Luc Besson, starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman and Natalie Portman.

In the film, Léon (played by Reno), a "cleaner" or professional assassin, saves the life of a 12 year old girl (played by Portman), after her family is killed by crooked DEA agents, and is obligated to take care of her. She tries to convince him to teach her his trade so she can avenge her family's murderer; in return, she may teach him a little humanity.

Léon is to some extent an English-language variation on the theme of Besson's earlier film, Nikita[?]. This itself had been remade, not by Besson, as The Assassin, starring Bridget Fonda[?].

---

Léon[?] is also a commune in the Landes département, in France.