THIS article is all about my ode to the greatest French film director in contemporary times – Luc Besson. My admiration for Luc Besson started when he directed that stylish action movie starring no less than acclaimed French actor Jean Reno, Leon. Known for his Hong Kong-inspired action films, there is actually another side of Luc Besson that few people in the United States (his current home base) and France know – his 1995 film Leon dangerously borders on the pedophilia. This is actually the very first film starring Natalie Portman. Then at 13 years old, Natalie’s love interest in the movie was Jean Reno, who was already 45 then.

Anchoring on the pedophilic theme, Luc Besson took off from what another French director, Louis Malle, did 16 years earlier – the Brooke Shields-introducing vehicle Pretty Baby. As compared to the pedophilic scenes in Pretty Baby, Leon’s was pretty milder though simply because pedophilia was only one of the themes in the movie. There were two other themes explored by Besson in Leon – police corruption played perfectly by the sadistic Gary Oldman and of course that signature Hong Kong action style. Pedophilia in itself was just a side-theme; Leon (Jean Reno) wasn’t actually interested erotically in Matilda (Natalie Portman); Matilda’s crush on Leon stemmed from her own emotional confusion fueled by two reasons – a) she needed a father figure because her parents were both killed by the sadistic Gary Oldman and b) she was undergoing puberty which understandably caused her estrogen level to soar.

That was my first cinematic encounter with Luc Besson. It was only later that I learned that Luc made his very first Hong Kong-style flick Nikita earlier. Nikita is a post-teenage Lolita with a twist – she’s an assassin. Luc Besson’s groundbreaking work with Nikita which included a stellar cast of Jean Reno as the movie’s villain, Tcheky Karyo as Nikita’s handler and Luc Besson’s then wife Anne Parillaud as Nikita soon spawned the hit French cult TV series of the same title. And that was only the time that I knew Luc Besson was also the creator of Nikita.

The French are said to be the most romantic people on earth. One can only look at Luc Besson as the perfect example of that. After marrying Nikita (Anne Parrilaud), Luc Besson ditched her when she saw Milla Jovovich – her leading lady another Luc Besson trademark hit, The Fifth Element. Ah…the French!!