Aunque con fallas en su desarrollo, la película creo una historia tan llena de ternura que es imposible no amarla

The movie is beautiful. Anyone who does not understand this is simply lacking perspective (it is hard to know how awful it feels to be objectified and envied as a woman if you have not experienced it). As someone who has experienced similar reactions from people, it was a very touching and horrifying film. Bellucci did not need words to express the complex emotions portrayed within the film. Although it is nice that some of the men commented wishing for more depth to her character, there was character, they simply did not see it or were not able to empathize with it. In asking for more "depth" or backstory to her character, critics missed the entire point of the film. It was depicted from an outside perspective to emphasize the solitary nature of Malena's life and the lack of control that she had over it. In filming from this perspective one is given the option to see how cruel the world can be through a clear sequence of events. That is my opinion as a woman who probably has a closer experience to Malena than any of these men criticizing the film. However, who knows how the director intended it to be interpreted.

An hard hitting love story. 7.9/10

I think it portrayed very well how the emotions of communities work, especially in small communities. People tend to put something that they don’t understand into the typical stereotyping and feel that they understand. It was scary to see how far people can go to prove that they are right.

I never get bored of this movie. It holds so well in the passing years. I watched when I was young and it gave me a strong impression that I can't check off. I think I'll the intolerance and injustice portrayed in the movie makes me want to be better than the town people. Is just nice when I movie gives meaning to you in a way that it can improve you.

Malèna's plot would give a first impression that it's void. However, the WW2 setting really helps, turning it into a rich plot. It is understandable how some scenes may seem irrelevant, or even unacceptable by today's standards, but they're essential in translating the amorous feelings of the boy (Renato) and the melancholic ones of the woman (Malèna). The director is also very attentive to details. Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, and Giuseppe Tornatore form the perfect combination. And the other actors' performances are no less sincere.

This is the only movie that seriously shows the sexuality of teenage boys from a teenage boy's point of view.

Shot in my Sicily. La Cucinotta needed to be in this film, not Bellucci

In Malena, Mussolini has just announced via state radio that Italy will be an active participant in WWII and a small town erupts in patriotic fervor. In a parallel story, the town also erupts in a unified fervor in the condemnation of Malena (Monica Bellucci), a beautiful war widow who the town mistakenly condemns as a whore and persecute her without mercy, all seen through the eyes of Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro), a teenage boy trying to come to terms with his own blossoming sexuality. Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso) sometimes lets things get away from him when showing Renato's flights of imagination involving himself and Malena, which are jarring and not consistent with the overall tone of the film. With agile and creative camerawork, the movie is a visually impressive story about the dangers of mob mentality, whether it is the large-scale madness of fascism or the small-scale persecution of a woman trying to deal with her sorrow.

What I see is a serious, black-and-white portrayal of Italian people during the war years. The movie is especially focused on a particular woman's life (portrayed by beautiful Monica Bellucci) due to her aesthetic look. One could easily say that the movie is based on male's gaze. Although I can understand how this character, Malena, experiences the things presented in the movie, the film fails to give this woman a character and we still learn all the events from a child (who is also a male). In a way, it is a critique of beautiful woman's place in a community, but it treats this woman very harshly. Apart from these, it is an ordinary movie that does not have very unique aspects. Finally, the narrator's father was hilarious and especially he makes the movie very fun along all those dramatic events..

In Sicily, during the Second World War, a teenage boy gets smitten by Malena, a sensual woman living in a small town. A very erotic movie full of great moments, reminiscent of one's own discovery of sexuality.

Malèna is so underrated. This true masterpiece of cinematographia has a universal truth.

Coming of age story showing the maturation of a boy and a town in light of a beautiful woman beyond the reach of anyone who cannot improve her present. Touching, sad and hopeful all at once

Very funny and heartwarming, moreso than I expected given the subject matter of the film.

The work of camera, both static and dynamic, helped the movie a lot in how great it appeared visually. But the story itself, romantic and dramatic, was not that important and appealing to me. I wonder if there was a special casting requirement, regarding the size of breasts actresses had here.

The main character was young, but it was a shock to go to a prostitute and have sex. In fact, in ancient Italy, did such young people always have sex with prostitutes on a daily basis?

it was one of the best movies I have ever seen in my life. It explains the Life of a women(Monica Bellucci) during World War 2 after her man went into military service...

Unlike the rest, I find Malena nothing but an Italian American Pie. Yes, there's the amazing WW2 production but the story itself is nothing but a boy's dark fantasy hiding in pretentious war love story, so it could be called as an art film. LOL

Una hermosa película de Guiseppe Tornatore junto de una preciosa banda sonora del grande Ennio Morricone, nos ponemos en la situación de Renato, un niño de 12 años platonicamente enamorado de Malena, una mujer de 27 años que ha pasado por el resiente separo de su marido a una semana de su boda. Veremos las decisiones de Malena a través de los ojos de Renato y como a su vez una mujer sin suficiente carácter, ni fuerza de voluntad, se deja vencer por las objetivaciones de todo el pueblo, y sus decisiones por haber nacido maldita por una belleza casi irracional, llevan a que a su vez dañen la precoz pero noble visión de Renato de ella, la mujer que quiso por ver mas allá de lo que todos veían.

"Malena" shows how society defines women through the prism of their sexuality and sexual desrability. The main character's destiny is shaped by men's sexual desire towards her. In the movie, sexual desire fuels agression towards women: teenage boys make very crude comments and jokes about Malena to deal with their sexual frustration, more mature men are delighted when the object of their desire has to resort to prostitution to support herself after her husband's and father's death (no woman in town will hire Malena or let her husband take her on for fear of competition). Malena shows a life shaped and destroyed by lust. In all this gloom, there is a glimmer of hope brought on by Renato's undying love for the woman. It's a great movie, a must-watch.