Malèna

Plot

A woman provokes sensual awakenings in a group of adolescent boys.

Release Year: 2000

Rating: 7.4/10 (30,246 voted)

Critic's Score: 54/100

Director:
Giuseppe Tornatore

Stars: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico

Storyline
On the day in 1940 that Italy enters the war, two things happen to the 12-year-old Renato: he gets his first bike, and he gets his first look at Malèna. She is a beautiful, silent outsider who's moved to this Sicilian town to be with her husband, Nico. He promptly goes off to war, leaving her to the lustful eyes of the men and the sharp tongues of the women. During the next few years, as Renato grows toward manhood, he watches Malèna suffer and prove her mettle. He sees her loneliness, then grief when Nico is reported dead, the effects of slander on her relationship with her father, her poverty and search for work, and final humiliations. Will Renato learn courage from Malèna and stand up for her?

Writers: Giuseppe Tornatore, Luciano Vincenzoni

Cast:

Monica Bellucci
–

Malèna Scordia

Giuseppe Sulfaro
–

Renato Amoroso

Luciano Federico
–

Renato's Father

Matilde Piana
–

Renato's Mother

Pietro Notarianni
–

Professor Bonsignore

Gaetano Aronica
–

Nino Scordia

Gilberto Idonea
–

Avvocato Centorbi

(as Gilberto Idone)

Angelo Pellegrino
–

Segretario politico

Gabriella Di Luzio
–

Mantenuta del Barone

Pippo Provvidenti
–

Dott. Cusimano

Maria Terranova
–

Moglie Dott. Cusimano

Marcello Catalano
–

Lieutenant Cadel

Elisa Morucci
–

Lupetta

Domenico Gennaro
–

Farmacista

Vitalba Andrea
–

Moglie farmacista

Taglines:
A world at war. A young man coming of age. And the woman who changed his life forever

Release Date: 27 October 2000

Filming Locations: Messina, Sicily, Italy

Opening Weekend: $62,282
(USA)
(25 December 2000)
(33 Screens)

Gross: $3,429,045
(USA)
(1 April 2001)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min
 |
USA: 92 min
(heavily cut)
 |
Turkey: 84 min
(TV version)
 |
Denmark: 92 min

Goofs:

Continuity:
The bike that Renato rides, suddenly has a modern derailleur-type chain tensioner at the rear at about 20-21 minutes into the film. At all other times, his bike has a fixed rear gear without the chain tensioner.

Quotes:

Renato Amoroso:
Signora Malena, a more capable person than me… wrote that the only true love is unrequited love. Now I understand why. It's been so long since you last came out of your house. But the longer we are apart, the stronger my love becomes.

User Review

Cinematographic Symphony

Rating: 9/10

Malena is a beautiful and deeply touching film. It is a masterful
combination of sites, sounds and colors. The two leading actors (Monica
Bellucci and Giuseppe Sulfaro) are simply excellent at what they are
supposed to convey in this movie. Apart from her truly majestic
elegance, Monica Bellucci invests her character (Malena) with an aura
of tragedy, of some profound and unrelenting emotional trauma and pain
which remains unspoken throughout the film and reaches its climax at
the very end. Malena's stunningly beautiful eyes remain constantly
downcast, and her face — tense and pierced through by psychic pain
(she rarely raises her face, let alone speaks words). Renato (the
teenage boy) wins his audience by his incredibly pure and valiant love
for Malena (this affection he carries in his heart for several years).
She becomes his muse, his courage, his sense of honor, his whole
rationale for confronting difficult and disruptive life of the war-torn
Italy. I agree completely with another commentator who said that the
ending of the movie is perhaps one of the most genuinely melancholic
moments in modern cinematography. Simply brilliant. Superb music! This
movie should be watched several times to be fully appreciated.