Learning To Love

The film The Professional， originally named Léon in French， made a hit when it was on show in 1994. Léon was directed by Luc Besson， and was starred by Jean Reno， Natalie Portman together with Gary Oldman. It told a story between an old man and a girl.

Mathilda， a twelve-year old girl， is living a miserable life among her half-family. Her father stores drugs for a neurotic officer Norman Stansfield. One day， Stansfield leads his team to take extremely cruel revenge on her father as well as the family just for hiding a little drug. He kills the whole family except Mathilda who is out shopping at that moment survives under the shelter of Léon. Soon， she finds out the strange neighbours unexpected profession， killer， so that she turns to him for taking revenge for her little brother. Léon does his best to keep Mathilda out of danger， however he failed. The conflicts among a killer a girl and an officer starts.

When the light of hope sparked in front of Léon， he suddenly found Stansfield the neurotic police officer was following him. The sound of breath took up all my sense. My heart froze with Leon in despair. There was no way for him to leave for his brand new life. He revenged Mathilda in the price of his own life. But the love and the experience they shared were not senseless. Because he once said to Mathilda， ” you are not going to lose me. Youve given me the taste for life， I wanna be happy， sleep in bed， have roots. And you are never gonna be alone again.”

“The love between a girl and an aged man” is the mainstream comment on this film. However， I cant bring myself to agree with this idea. In my eyes， it tells a story of learning to love. In other words the relationship between Mathilda and Léon can be considered as a kind of puppy love. When people focus on the appearance of the two main characters， they overlook some or even all the details.

Léon once talked about his first love. He fell in love with a noble girl while he was just a poor boy. The girls father couldnt bear their relationship and madly he killed his daughter， which made Léon so angry that he made his first shoot to kill his father. That year， Léon was 16， and he was forever 16. From then on， he had to forget how to love others， but to learn how to kill then.

In contrast， Mathilda， a 12-year-old girl with a miserable childhood. She could deeply understand the darkness of human desires. So she was able to notice the innocence inside her youngest brother. She hated everyone in her family but her little brother. However， a police officer sent him to heaven with a bullet. Surely， she once said that “Im already grown up， Im just get older.” However， for loving someone， it was the first time when she met Leon.

The two have learnt so much hostility but experienced less love. They are totally different in the shown age， but the love is puppy love. Like what is presented in The Little Prince， “its only with heart that one can see rightly， whats essential is invisible to eyes.” They can see through others appearance to find out a pure heart. With one accident， the love between a professional killer with a belief “no women no kids” and a girl with one aim to kill the murderer of her favorite brother began. In the teaching and training process in shooting， they developed a romantic relationship. Slowly they discovered their ability to live and to love. However， kids like， they dont know how to deal this kind of emotion. Mathilda was hot as fire， while Léon cold as ice. Eventually， they found they are indivisible， when they are about to leave each other.

“Love has made me see things in a different way.”

作者簡介：盧艾蕓（2001.1.18-），女，漢族，成都人，成都外國語學校高2018屆8班，學生。