Malèna (film)

From AwardAnnals

Reviews

Amazon.com

When 12-year-old Renato, riding through his small Italian town on his new bicycle, sees the voluptuous Malèna, little does he know he’s launching on an infatuation that will carry him through the tumultuous days of World War II. Malèna begins as an enraptured depiction of Renato’s adolescent mind—the way he stares, hypnotized, at Malèna’s garters pressing through the material of her tight skirt, or his frustrated rebellion against the indignity of wearing short pants—but soon transforms into a portrait of small-town prejudice. Malèna’s looks spark lust and envy in the townspeople; when her husband dies in combat, the gossip only intensifies, to the point that Malèna is dragged into court to defend herself against accusations of adultery. When the women of the town refuse to sell her edible food at the market, Malèna has little choice but to become what she’s been unjustly accused of being. At the end, a twist of fate turns this tale of longing and jealousy into a heartbreaking love story. Monica Bellucci exudes the can’t-help-it eroticism that makes Malèna such a lightning rod for everyone’s desires; she’s like a more zaftig Isabelle Adjani. The movie seems to wander at times, but the ending has a powerful emotional impact. From the director of Cinema Paradiso. —Bret Fetzer

Barnes and Noble

The thrills and agonies of an adolescent crush are thoroughly catalogued in Malèna, a charming and emotive period piece from director Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso). Set in a small Sicilian town during WWII, the story centers on Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro), a 13-year-old boy with a hyperactive fantasy life who falls hard for the town’s ultra-beautiful twentysomething newlywed, Malèna (Monica Bellucci). Tornatore leaves no stone unturned here in portraying a young man’s sexual coming-of-age. There are girlie pictures and squeaky bedsprings galore, in scenes staged with just enough frankness to make the material seem fresh. He also creates his own version of Fellini’s Amarcord, bringing the town to life as a circus of eccentrics—folks who pray and gossip with equal fervor, while radio reports in the background track the war’s progress. Meanwhile, Renato’s imagination is explored through a series of fantasy sequences that reflect his obsession with movies. Sulfaro brings a perfect earnestness to his portrayal of Renato, while Bellucci’s portrayal of Malèna is carefully understated, with few lines and a mere handful of carefully chosen emotional moments. She has supermodel looks, to be sure, but she is seen for the most part through Renato’s eyes and functions as an empty vessel into which he pours his distilled adolescent adoration. Add an Oscar-nominated soundtrack by the legendary Ennio Morricone, and you have a film that is Italian on the surface but Hollywood at its core, a sweeping, irony-free story where love conquers all. Gregory Baird

Related works

Malèna

Ennio Morricone

• 2001 Golden Globe-Score nominee
• 2001 Oscar-Score nominee
• Score: 12.51

It’s rare when a composer forges an artistic bond with a director that encompasses several films over the years, and rarer still when a musician has that relationship with two different filmmakers. Ennio Morricone’s collaboration with the late director Sergio Leone on a series of so-called spaghetti Westerns has assumed almost mythic proportions. But, beginning with Cinema Paradiso, the Roman scoring maestro has also fashioned a latter-day bond with director Giuseppe Tornatore that has produced music of a wholly different color, character, and emotional…

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