This is a beautifully written and incisive article that I chanced upon this evening. I don’t know how we happened on the subject of the film, but my wife wondered aloud if there was a chance that the diva’s performance was authentic, meaning voiced by a single person in real time. To my knowledge, there’s no way for a human to be polyphonic to the extreme degree of the diva, but I tried to dig up some info on the subject anyway, eventually coming across this lovely piece. I hope you’ll find it, as I did, an brief respite from the terrible reality in which we find ourselves. ✌️
Looks like that was changed just a few hours ago.
But yes. I watched Leon and was absolutely blown away by how blatantly pedophilic it was. Like, truly disturbing, completely inappropriate. I don’t know how Besson has escaped unscathed by the court of public opinion. Portman was sixteen in that movie and he had her singing happy birthday in her underwear, imitating Marilyn Monroe. Leon sits in bed with her and she caresses her exposed midriff while talking about how she loves him and how it feels warm in her stomach or some shit. Sixteen, man. There was an entire movie production crew there and no one fucking thought this was abusive to compell a child to do? I enjoyed Fifth Element just like everyone else, but knowing now what I know about Luc and his fucked up history, that shit’s cancelled, man. And all the actors in that movie are on serious waiver.