Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5084 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-01-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 beginning 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--chronicling the way he stares, hypnotised, 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 where 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 with a beauty reminiscent of 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, Amazon.com

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
Italian
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 Italian
Dolby Digital 5.1
Making Of Malena
Theatrical Trailer
English

Synopsis
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.

Customer Reviews

The Perils of Being Too Beautiful
Set in a Sicilian village during WW2, "Malena" is a thoroughly enjoyable movie which showcases the many talents and charms of Monica Bellucci, who plays the glamourous wife of an Italian soldier. Lusted after by men and envied by women, Malena has to adjust to life on her own after her husband is called to fight in North Africa. Her solitary status becomes the subject of rampant speculation in the village and her haughty, reserved demeanour helps to turn her into a hate figure for malicious gossips who try to "bring her down". A pubescent boy , Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro) ,falls under her spell and he starts to follow and spy on her ,observing mournfully her fall from grace . The main themes of "Malena" are those of envy, injustice and redemption. The acting and cinematography are superb and there is a rich vein of humour running through the film, mostly provided by Renato's relationship with his right hand and with his temperamental father after an attempted exorcism. However there are some harrowing scenes as well which are brilliantly performed by Bellucci. Like an Italian "Ryan's Daughter" with echoes of "Wish You Were Here", "Malena" is an engaging and entertaining contribution to world cinema.

View the world through the eyes of a child
I watched this film few days ago but I still retain the emotions it provoked in me. Both the colours and the music are enchanting but what is most intriguing is perceiving the story from this boy's point of view. Renato is a young boy and still innocent and suffers greatly for the evil that envy and jealousy can cause.
A poetic film, don't be mistaken by the fact an ex model stars in it (Monica Bellucci)the film is deeper than what you may think.

Heartbreakingly Beautiful and Triumphant
This wonderful film from Italy by "Cinema Paradiso" writer and director Gieseppe Tornatore is in turns, hilarious, heartbreaking, and ultimately, triumphant. What starts out as a coming of age obsession turns into a meditation on human cruelty, and poses many of the same questions as last years film "The Majestic". Is it what people expect of us that makes us what we are? If we change to be this, where do we belong then, and can we be accepted again in the life we choose to live? Make no mistake, this is the darker side to those questions, and the darker answers.

Giueseppe Sulfaro is terrific as Renato, a young boy in an Italian town during WWII who has just gotten a new bicycle. His biggest goal in life is to get a pair of long pants so he can dress like a man. But once he sees the lovely Malena, his life changes forever. His adolescent fantasies about the most beautiful girl in the town are hysterical. He puts himself into the American films he has seen in these moments. From "Me Tarzan, You Malena" to his stagecoach western fantasy (obviously he's John Wayne) "My, you have the biggest guns in the west, Renato!" we can't stop laughing. His raging hormones are treated in a funny and yet tasteful manner.

His adolescent longing for her turns to something more as this film slowly shows Renato how this small Italian town feels about the lovely Malena. Men gawk and want to have her for themselves and the women hate her because of her dark beauty and make up gossip to cheapen her. But Renato has been spying on her through a peephole and knows the truth. She is pure. She dances alone in her house with her husband's picture, faithful and waiting for his return from war.

Renato loves the beautiful Malena and defends her virtue by playing nasty tricks on the ones who talk about her. When she apparently becomes a widow her life becomes much harder and the gossip more vicious as the entire town pushes her towards the loose woman they want her to be, the men so they can sleep with her, and the women so they can feel superior. Once a "payment" is forced upon her by the town attorney her path is sealed and the young Renato watches the girl he worships from afar become a prostitute, knowing she is still pure, and has no choices.

Monica Bellucci is magnificent as Malena. She is ravishingly beautiful and quietly displays emotions underneath we can not see, an elegant dignity carried all through the film, even as she is dragged into the streets and beaten by the women after American liberation from the Germans. It is a raw emotional scene rarely if ever seen in American cinema...

Don't let this truly wonderful film pass by just because you don't like subtitles. Monica Bellucci is the finest thing to hit Italian cinema since Sophia Loren. She is talented and breathtakingly beautiful. Renato knows he will never forget Malena. Neither will you...