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Summary: Monica Bellucci stars in the
title role of the most beautiful woman in a small Italian town. When her
newlywed husband leaves to fight the war, the townspeople relentlessly gossips about
her alleged affairs, thinking that a woman of such beauty must be fooling
around on the side. Giuseppe Sulfaro plays Renato, an adolescent boy who is
completely infatuated and obsessed with Malèna from the moment he first laid
eyes on her. Renato follows her around town like a lost puppy and spies
on her every move. It is from this perspective that we get to know
Malèna as she deals with the hardships of war and vicious gossip that
literally follows her around town. If you like a change from the usually
Hollywood fare and are not easily offended by the strong sexual themes, don't
miss this beautifully photographed Italian movie about a beautiful woman's
struggle for dignity and a young boy's coming-of-age.
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The Story
The beautiful Monica Bellucci stars in the title role as Malèna,
the most beautiful woman in the small Italian town of Castelcuto. Her
beauty is the subject of lustful eyes of nearly all men in town while
sparking
jealousy and hatred from the married women. When her newlywed husband
of one month leaves to fight
the war, the townspeople relentlessly gossips about her alleged affairs,
thinking that a woman of such beauty must be fooling around on the
side. Though the film is entitled "Malèna", the story is
told primarily from the perspective of and is also about the coming-of-age
of a young teenage boy, Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro). He is completely infatuated and
obsessed with her from the moment he first laid eyes on her. Renato follows
her around town like a lost puppy and spies on her every moment. He
sneaks out of his home in the evening and even cuts school in pursuit of
this obsession. But it is through this constant spying on Renato's
part that we get to know Malèna's private life.
Renato quickly discovers that Malèna is faithful to her
husband and spends her evenings alone, reminiscing of the times she shared
with her husband and daydreaming of their reunion. A few months into the war, Malèna is
informed that her husband died in battle. Now that her husband is
dead, the gossip about Malèna's alleged promiscuities becomes much more
malicious. One rumor gets so far out of hand that Malèna has to go to
court to defend her honor. As the war effort continues, however, food rations become increasing small and the townspeople refuse to sell
Malèna any decent food out of their prejudice and jealousy. Malèna struggles with the
hardships of war while trying to fight off the men who throw themselves at
her. Will she be able to survive the fierce and malicious treatment by
the townspeople? And will she be able to find enough food to survive
on? Or will she give in and live out the promiscuous lifestyle that
the townspeople have been alleging all along?
If you like a change from the typical Hollywood fare, don't miss this beautifully photographed Italian movie
(with English subtitles). The musical score is equally sweeping and
beautiful. The movie is as much about the coming-of-age of
an adolescent boy as it is about the beautiful Malèna. The movie does
have considerable strong sexual thematic elements about an adolescent boy
discovering his sexuality. (A-hem.) There also a scene where
Renato slights a religious figure, which may disturb some folks. But
if you're not too easily offended by this cinematic style, some of the adolescence fantasy sequences and "acting
out" can be funny in its unique way. Giuseppe Sulfaro did a
wonderful job of performing his character. And Monica Bellucci gave a
stunning performance in her title role, which did not have too many speaking
lines but rather relied heavily on physical gestures and facial expressions
(which can actually be much more difficult than dialogue).
The Extras
"Malèna" contains the following bonus
materials:
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"Making of Malèna" featurette: an entertaining
look at model-turned-actress Monica Bellucci and her feelings about the script and her
hope for international exposure through this Italian-made movie. (10 minutes)
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theatrical trailer and TV spots (3) for "Malèna"
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Sneak Peeks theatrical trailers for : "Il Postino",
"Life Is Beautiful", "Butterfly", "The Grandfather", and "Miramax
Movies to Remember"
The DVD is a little short on bonus materials.
Video & Audio
The image quality of this anamorphic
widescreen DVD is pretty good. The colors are accurate and
saturated, while shadow detail is very good. There are some occasional
film dust specks that mar what would have been a pristine video
transfer. But overall, the essence of the stunningly beautiful
cinematography is captured. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced though the surround channels
were conservatively used. The Italian dialogue comes across crystal clear.
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Visit the Malèna theatrical web
site, the Disney DVD
web site, or the Disney
DVD technical assistance web site (or call 1-800-723-4763).
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES
STR-V444ES A/V receiver, NHT 2.1 as left/right main speakers, NHT 1.1C center channel speaker, NHT
SuperZero as surround speakers, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable XP speaker
wires, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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United We Stand
