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Malèna (Malena)

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Time has passed and I have loved many women... and as they've held me close, and asked if I will remember them... I've said "yes, I will remember you." But the only one I've never forgotten is the one who never asked, Malèna. - Renato

Malèna is a moving fable about the powers of the imagination and the perils of growing up. Another achingly poignant remembrance of childhood's most magical and transforming moments, this time Giuseppe Tornatore takes on adolescence - and the brushes with beauty, sexuality, revenge, the madness of war and the hunger for romance that open a child's eyes to an understanding of love and responsibility.

Malèna (Monica Bellucci) is the most ravishing and irresistible beauty in Castelcuto, a sleepy village on the sunny Sicilian shore. She's new in town and with her husband away at war, every stroll she takes through town turns into a spectacle, accompanied by the lustful looks of the townsmen and the resentful gossip of their envious wives. An army of skinny teens on bicycles follows her everywhere just to stare at her exquisite, archetypal beauty. But among those boys is Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe Sulfaro), an imaginative 13-year-old who takes his desire to unexpected heights of obsessive fantasy.

Fuelled by his dreams of cinematic romance, Renato Amoroso becomes Malèna's secret shadow, a spy of love following closely her every sensuous move. The smallest moments in her life are perceived with a boy's highly charged eroticism. Even as his parents comically attempt to thwart his "sinful," "unhealthy" behaviour - boarding up his windows, taking him to a priest, then an exorcist, then a prostitute - Renato maintains his vigilant, voyeuristic watch over Malèna. He watches as her fortunes take a dark turn, as Malèna becomes a young widow, and then becomes the dangerous object of the town's pent-up lust, jealousy and anger - the very eye of an emotional, erotic storm that sweeps across Castelcuto.

But as Malèna is dragged down, disowned by her father, thrust into court, cut off from a livelihood and left penniless, Renato is sadly exposed to the social impact of provincial life. When all seems lost, he finds the courage to act, to take responsibility, and in doing so, to help Malèna in the most unexpected of ways.

And one year later, Renato is once again watching from afar, as Malèna, in typical Sicilian tradition, returns to Castelcuto to try and restore her dignity and honour in the town where it was lost.

Also starring Daniele Arena, Giovanni Litrico, Gianluca Guarrera and Michel Bramanti. Written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, inspired by Luciano Vincenzoni's Ma l'amore no....

Cinematic intelligence sources

Awards and film festivals:

Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2002

Malèna (Malena) movie trailers:

Windows

NB: Italian language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Buena Vista International

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

A film with a happy ending that's as sad as the rest of it. Only a European could manage that. As for a main character who utters barely more than three words... well, that's just genius. The less said about that the better.

Monica and Malèna are aware of both their beauty and the effect it has on those around them. They do nothing to flaunt it (well, no more than any other woman) and nothing to hide it, and that is Malèna's undoing: tall poppies shall never be accepted by the weeds crouching beneath them. Jealousy is an evil thing and human beings will always find an excuse to inflict their hatred on others, that's why the film is so good.

Giuseppe and Renato are passionate little buggers at the tail end of a generation: old enough to know what's going on but not old enough to do anything about it. Renato is also caught up by being the last and youngest of his friends to get long pants (in those days it was a sign of manhood, now, sensibly, it's mostly a sign of being cold). Every experience is new for him and thereby for you, the viewer. His struggle toward adulthood (socially and sexually) is like being submersed in a stormy sea, tossed to and fro by the founts of testosterone. Giuseppe, meanwhile, is cute verging on gorgeous, just the kind of kid to make your maternal/paternal instinct rise up and just the kind of young man to make other instincts come to the fore.

Meanwhile, the town and the townspeople are just the sort of barbaric, church-indoctrinated peasant stock to turn on anything that isn't just like them. No alternative lifestyles, no alternative sexualities, no alternative thoughts. The punishment for being different, whether it's ugly or beautiful, is the same: as much pain as can be delivered until the offender becomes just like everyone else. It's a Little Johnny Howard paradise of insensitivity, small-mindedness and close-mindedness. Vote 1 Democrats.

One curious thing that occurs in the film is Renato and his mates hanging out at the beach, comparing the size of their dicks (officially measured with the thumb). Now, maybe I grew up in a conservative town and maybe I didn't have the right friends, but I haven't even heard of anyone doing that, let alone such interesting games as Soggy Biscuit. Sometimes I just don't understand the world.

Malèna will leave you feeling sad and maybe even make you cry. Man's inhumanity to woman beggars belief.