Rent Malena (2000)

Excellent - Malena review by ll

Perhaps not quite as a good as Cinema Paradiso but direction, scenes, and music score are excellent.

In a way, grotesque - Malena review by SB

Local beauty goes walking daily through a poor Sicilian town in WWII; teenage (barely) boy gets a crush on her. The war progresses; the boy grows up and the woman survives many vicissitudes.

A somewhat strange film with an interesting technique; all behaviour except that of the woman is exaggerated to show up the primitive, hypocritical nature of Sicilian society and the unreasonable nature of human beings. The performances are good, and the atmosphere well-evoked. Monica Bellucci hardly speaks; she is just a body. Even her face hardly matters. That in itself says something. In some ways, this is quite an unpleasant film even though it has many 'funny' scenes. I wonder whether it would have been seen as acceptable had the sexes been reversed and a twelve year old girl seen lusting after a 27 year old man, with all that follows.

Stunning Monica Belucci - Malena review by TB

Beautifully realised coming-of-age film featuring the lovely Monica Belucci. The unrelenting hostility of the townspeople is perhaps a little overplayed