NIKITA (Luc Besson, 1990) (Magdalen Auditorium, 7:30pm Monday 13th Nov)

In Nikita, Anne Parillaud plays a young punk who is declared dead and faced with a simple choice after a hold-up ends with a dead cop: spend the rest of life locked up, or train to be a government assassin. What follows is the transformation of Nikita into a seductive yet confused killer struggling to maintain a double life.

Tim Murray Browne (Magdalen FilmSoc Committee)

LÉON (Luc Besson, 1994) (Magdalen Auditorium, 9:35pm Monday 13th Nov)

Léon tells the story of Mathilda (Natalie Portman), a 12 year old girl who is left homeless when her family are killed after a sour drugs deal. She attaches herself to Léon (Jean Reno), her quiet neighbour, and persuades him to teach her the trade of cleaning, whilst testing the boundaries of his paternal status.

In both films Besson shows his ability to transcend what might be quite typical plots into two moving works through skilful characterisation and stunning cinematography, whilst maintaining his talent for enjoyable and tense action. Both films explore people working with a life forced upon them and both, funnily enough, feature Jean Reno as an assassin, though in very different ways.

Tim Murray Browne (Magdalen FilmSoc Committee)