Opening of Leon, Analysis by Dani

I will be analysing the clip between 01.40 and 03.54 minutes.



Extreme close ups are used frequently in this opening sequence to portray a sense of concealed identities due to the hidden narrative shown in each of the shots. The first of these is the opening shot after a fade to black, we see a glass of milk on a table, with a man's hands placed either side of the glass. Even this insignificant detail helps us to get to know his character so even the smallest of details become important. Also the fact that he drinks a lot of milk is an underlying personality trait running throughout the film. We then get another extreme close up his sunglasses lens, and are  
able to see the outline of another man going to light a cigarette, we then go to a match on action to a close up of the man lighting the cigarette. The audience work out that this is the same guy that was in the reflection. Both of these close ups combined helps add to the suspense, as we still haven't properly seen either of the two characters. 

From the close up of somebody lighting a cigarette, we then slowly pan up his face, showing each of his facial features in extreme close up, slowly revealing more of his face, however his identity his still concealed which adds enigma to the opening as the audience ask questions such as; Who is this guy? Who was the last guy? What is the meeting about? Why are they both concealed? Is it a dodgy/illegal meeting? He puts out his cigarette in the ash tray and we get an extreme close up of his mouth as he says 'lets start business' which emphasises the importance of this business and also the crime related aspect as both identities are still hidden from the camera.

At the end of this first scene, we go back to the same extreme close up of the glass of milk and his hands. While we don’t see the man drinking, only picking up the full glass and putting down an empty one, we do see the other character's reaction shot, despite the fact that we only see his eye again in an extreme close up. The fact that this same shot is at the start and the end of the scene, it gives a sense of importance to the object and the man holding it.

The shots that follows shows a photograph of a man being handed over to the first character that we saw, as this is happening the character handing it over, is speaking over the top of these shots, talking about the man in the picture. The first character has no dialogue until the one line at the end of the conversation where he simply says, 'yeah I'm free Tuesday', which again reinforces the character's mysterious nature as he still has a hidden identity and sits in near silence for the whole conversation. 

We see the first character slide the photograph towards himself and then in his reflection, that he takes it with him. One of the last things we see in the first scene is a photograph of a man and when the next scene starts the first shot is of that same man in a hotel. This adds enigma to the opening sequence as we try and deduce how the two scenes are related.