Malèna
| Malèna | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Giuseppe Tornatore |
| Produced by | Harvey Weinstein |
| Screenplay by | Giuseppe Tornatore |
| Story by | Luciano Vincenzoni |
| Starring |
Monica Bellucci |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Lajos Koltai |
| Edited by | Massimo Quaglia |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 minutes (United States cut: 92 minutes) |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| Box office | $14,493,284 |
Malèna is a 2000 Italian romantic drama film starring Monica Bellucci and . It was directed and written by Giuseppe Tornatore from a story by Luciano Vincenzoni. It won the Grand Prix at the 2001 Cabourg Film Festival.
The film begins in Sicily in 1940 during World War II just as Italy enters the war. A young boy, 12-year-old Renato, experiences three major events in one day: First, Italy goes to war; second, he gets a new bike; and third, he first sees the beautiful lady, Malena. Malena's husband, Nino Scordia, has been taken away to fight in Africa and Malena is left alone with her father, an elderly and almost-deaf man. Malena tries to cope with her loneliness, as the town she has moved to tries to deal with this beautiful woman who gets the attention of all the local men, including Renato. However, in spite of the gossip, she continues to be faithful to her husband. Renato becomes obsessed with Malena and starts fantasizing about her. His fantasies become increasingly elaborate and he becomes obsessed with the shy young woman, peeping in her window often as she waits sadly for her beloved husband to return. Renato eventually steals Malena's underwear and begins to fantasize about her in bed, to the horror of his parents. They do everything to stop his behavior, but it is all in vain.
Malena soon receives word that her husband has been killed and her grief consumes her. Renato continues to watch Malena as she suffers from grief. Malena is shunned by the townspeople who begin to believe the worst about her, simply because of her beauty. Women spread terrible rumors and men encourage the rumors by lurking around the poor widow, who does nothing to defend herself; she just wants to be left alone.
She visits her father regularly and helps him with his chores, but when a slanderous letter reaches his hands, their relationship suffers a catastrophic blow. Things only get worse when the wife of the local dentist takes Malena to court, accusing her of having an affair with her husband, but Malena is acquitted. The Court is told that Malena is being harassed for being beautiful, as other ladies feel insecure and threatened by her. The only man that the lonely and sad Malena has a romance with, an army officer, is sent away after saying he and Malena were "just friends". The betrayal cuts deeply, but Malena says nothing to condemn the officer. After her acquittal, Malena's lawyer Centorbi comes to her home and asks for a dance and during the dance, using her unpaid legal fee as leverage, rapes her while Renato peeps in from outside her house.
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