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Malena Details

2000 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 5225 members

With MALENA, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore spins a romantic coming-of-age yarn about love, loss, and courage. Set in 1941 in a tiny village in Sicily, the film focuses on a group of 13-year-old boys who fall madly in love with Malena (Monica Bellucci), the wife of a local soldier. One of the boys, Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe .. Read more

Starring Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
Director Giuseppe Tornatore
Genres Drama, World Cinema

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Malena cover art

Malena

With MALENA, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore spins a romantic coming-of-age yarn about love, loss, and courage. Set in 1941 in a tiny village in Sicily, the film focuses on a group of 13-year-old boys who fall madly in love with Malena (Monica Bellucci), the wife of a local soldier. One of the boys, Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe Sulfaro), a dreamer who yearns for freedom from his war-bound village, revels in the exquisite beauty of the enchanting newcomer. He becomes her shadow, following her through the cobble stone streets and spying on her most intimate moments, overwhelmed with romantic longing for the first time. Malena has a magical spellbinding effect on the male villagers; her presence inspires fantasy and escape from their daily lives. But the women of the village, hardened by war, are quick to judge the nubile outsider. Malena becomes the focus of desire and seething jealousy in the town and she is eventually forced to face the female villagers in a bittersweet climax. Reminiscent of Federico Fellini's nostalgic masterpiece AMARCORD, native Sicilian Tornatore revisits the dusty village streets of his childhood where adolescent boys learn about sex, desire, and ultimately, love. Like Tornatore's critically acclaimed CINEMA PARADISO, he bathes the film in the sun-drenched light of his homeland, giving it a dreamy, earthy sensuality and a poetic spirit. Monica Bellucci is a delicious revelation, the camera lingers seductively on her bewitching beauty. Inspired by the story MA L'AMORE NO... by Luciano Vincenzoni.

Starring Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
Director Giuseppe Tornatore
Studio WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 28 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: Italian
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 07 Jan 2002
Production year: 2000
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (6) of Malena

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Set in a picturesquely fictional Sicilian town, this two-toned rite-of-passage picture from Giuseppe Tornatore seems like a glossier version of Vittorio De Sica's more realistic Bicycle Thieves and an idealistic version of Fellini's nostalgic Amarcord rolled into one. Against the changing fortunes of the Second World War, the debuting Giuseppe Sulfaro manages a naivety that tempers his furtive imaginings as the teenager besotted with local beauty Malena. Tornatore, who also directed Cinema Paradiso, bitterly sweetens the sentiment of his earlier movie, while still revelling in a gallery of Italianate caricatures. But the film belongs to Monica Bellucci, whose character passes from widow to whore during the war period, as she almost wordlessly conveys the allure, vulnerability, brassiness and courage of a much-wronged outsider.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • "...MALENA the film is as beautiful and seductive as its heroine, with its ravishing Lajos Koltai cinematography and sweepingly romantic Ennio Morricone score..."

    • Los Angeles Times
    • Posted 11 Mar 2005

  • Most helpful member's review of Malena

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  • 16 out of 16 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    wonderful!

    I think I have fallen in love. I have fallen in love with Italian cinema. And who can blame me? Having loved Giuseppe Tornatore's 'Cinema Paradiso' I decided to try another one of his films, and 'Malena' was it.

    Malena isn't as good as Cinema Paradiso but don't let that put you off. It's like when I review a lot of amazing Billy Wilder films, obviously they're not as good as 'The Apartment' but that doesn't stop them from being awesome films.

    This film is a little more realistic than Paradiso, perhaps a little more cynical.. yet it's still a wonderful, thought-provoking look into the brilliant Italian culture.

    The cinematography is beautiful, the acting is perfect.. you will find yourself glued to the screen throughout. Nobody does these stories better than Tornatore.. the film is so gentle yet so effective, it's spell on you is incredible. It's like- well, remember the first time you saw Shawshank Redemption? This film is like that; it just leaves you feeling completely fulfilled.. and has me wondering why I really bother watching Hollywood films. This is a perfect picture; the Italians have remembered to do the thing which the rest of the world isn't, TELL A STORY. And this story is enchanting and compelling.

    Please watch this.

    I also recommend 'Cinema Paradiso' and 'I'm Not Scared'

    Dan

    dj152@aol.com

      • Daniel Johnson from London, England
      • Posted 17 Aug 2004 23:14

  • Most recent members' review of Malena

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    Malena

    i didnt find it meaningful. About a young boy who gets carried away with his lust to grown up woman. I didnt like it.

      • A customer from SHEPHERDS BUSH
      • Posted 12 Aug 2008 10:42

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5,225 Member ratings
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472
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1,061
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977
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948
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524
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191
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159
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76

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      • With MALENA, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore spins a romantic coming-of-age yarn about love, loss, and courage. Set in 1941 in a tiny village in Sicily, the film focuses on a group of 13-year-old ...