You may find this interesting to note, two scenes were cut or at least shortened:
  • A scene in which Luc and Natalie share the same bed was cut outright (they weren't having sex). But the censors were already upset about the "crush" thing Natalie's character has on Leon (Jean).
  • There were more scenes in which Leon trains Natalie's character to use weapons. Not just the sniper scene.
The big question is will this appear in the director's cut if that ever materializes? I know for a fact the above scenes do not appear in the European edition and we usually get to see everything.

Update 18/SEP/2001:
Okay it's been confirmed by mkb that the new release of the professional on DVD has the deleted scenes. Rejoice.

Update 20/NOV/2000:
My sources (proj251) tell me that there is a new version of the DVD that contains these scenes. Apparently Europe and Japan have the full director's cut. If someone could verify this (amazon link or product number) I would be grateful.

Leon: The Professional is one of Luc Besson's greatest films. When I first saw this movie it was the original one with no cuts, so I was happy when I bought the Director's cut of the DVD that was exactly the same. I remember watching the movie again, renting it from a video store and was disappointed that some scenes were left out. Natalie Portman plays a 12 year old girl named Mathilda whose family is killed by corrupt DEA officers, the leader being a cocaine addict is played by Gary Oldman. Mathilda becomes vengeful and urges Leon to teach her how to be cleaner, not because they killed her whole family, but because they killed her little four year old brother who did nothing to anyone but just cuddled with her. On the day of her family's massacre she was out buying groceries and she saw the destruction of her family and walked right past it to another apartment. She finds refuge with Leon, a professional Italian hitman also known as a cleaner after an intense moment of his indecision to open his door to her or not. The love that grows between Mathilda and Leon is disturbing at first but becomes something that is sweet. Mathilda treats Leon like a lover, but he treats her like a daughter and this is conveyed well throughout the movie. She may have fallen in love with him because he was kind to her, unlike her real parents who ordered her around and abused her. All actors in the movie give great performances, especially Natalie Portman since this is the first role of hers in the movie business. Gary Oldman makes you want to kill him since he plays a unsympathetic psycho who takes his crack and then compares everything to a Beethoven or Mozart composition. Jean Reno plays the lovable, serious older man who does not socialize much except for when he visits his friend/Boss Tony to get another job. Before he met Mathilda his only realy companion was his plant that he waters and places under the sun everyday.

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