The Codes and Convections of the Thriller Genre in 'Leon'

Luc Besson's 'Leon' has many of the codes and conventions of the thriller genre to build tension and to create suspense.

Throughout 'Leon' there is a use of extreme, the opening shot in 'Leon' is a wide landscape shot of the city which then changes to a tracking shot following the car. It leads the camera into a small shop where we see a close up of Leon's eye. The change from a wide landscape shot to an extreme close up disorientates the audience and excites them. We are introduced to mafioso, Tony and the professional hit man, Leon through extreme close ups. This makes the audience unaware of who they are and creates suspense. One of the men is a typical thriller character, smoking and hiring a hit man to kill someone who is involved with drugs, where as Leon himself is unlike the typical thriller character. We see this in the second scene when he saves the femme fatale from having the same fate as the rest of her family and giving her a place to stay.

 Another code and convention of the thriller genre in 'Leon' the disorientates the audience is the use of the spiral staircase. This is at the part where Leon has to kill the fat man and all of the other men protecting him because of the drugs. This makes the audience confused as to where Leon is, it makes it seem that he can be anywhere and on any level. In the scene where the fat man gets killed there is alot of high angle shots which represent the fat man as Leon's prey and shows him as vunerable.

Another code and convention of the thriller genre that is in 'Leon' is the use of the femme fatale. Unlike other thrillers the femme fatale in 'Leon' is just a 13 year old girl. However, although she is so young she is an ambiguous character. She has a seductive look and the bruises show how vunerable she is. When the audience first meets the audience she is wearing boots, leggings, a see through jumper and a choker and she is smoking. This gives the impression that she is a sexually attractive character even though she is only 13. This creates a contrast between the typical view of a young child and the girl in 'Leon'.

In 'Leon' there is a typical crime for a thriller genre - drugs. In the second scene while Leon shows kindness to the young girl, her family has been brutally murdered by a group of gansters who want the drugs. The high angle shots show the vunerability of the family and the control that the gangsters have on the family. The codes and conventions of the thriller genre in 'Leon' create tension and suspense. However, although these codes and conventions are apparent in 'Leon' Luc Besson has changed them slightly so that 'Leon' is not exactly the same as every thriller that has been made.

At the beginning of the film, Leon is made out to be a heartless character who has no emotion. He can kill anybody that he is asked to without feeling a thing. However, our view of Leon changes when we then see his first meeting with Mathilda. He seems to be kind and understanding and in the scene where her family is brutally murdered and he saves her by letting her stay with him.