There's something of a double whammy working for or against this film (depending on your taste), combining the warm-hued nostalgia of Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso) with the honey-coloured sweetness of Miramax's Euro-productions (Chocolat). Yes, this is a beautifully made, deeply sentimental, unashamedly syrupy film.

It centres on young Renato (Sulfaro) growing up in Sicily in the 1940s. Mussolini has thrown his lot in with the Nazis, but Renato and his friends have a bigger problem: Their emerging manhood! Which is stirred by the appearance of the gorgeous Malena (Bellucci). In fact, she's so drop-dead stunning that tongues start wagging throughout the town, as jealous wives gossip about the disgraceful things she must be getting up to while her husband (Aronica) is off fighting in North Africa. Soon things blow up into a full-blown scandal, while Renato watches (and silently tries to protect) her ... and he seems to be the only one who knows the truth.

As a coming-of-age tale, this film feels rather slight--nicely observed, effectively underplayed by the cast, yet not terribly original or insightful. But it's made much more enjoyable by the production design--Lajos Koltai's striking cinematography, Ennio Morricone's fantastic score, Francesco Frigeri's detailed production design and most notably Ms Bellucci, who quietly glides through virtually every scene so that, like the film's characters, you can't take your eyes off her. Even when the plot meanders off to tie up irrelevant threads, wallow in a bit more nostalgic yearning or indulge in some silly fantasy sequences (Tornatore really was that kid in Cinema Paradiso, wasn't he!), her presence is so strongly felt that it's all we're concerned with. And then there she is again, seductively strolling across the piazza, all heads turning as her skirt flaps in the breeze, tantalisingly revealing a glimpse of a leg, driving poor young Renato to distraction and drawing out the film's unintended theme that puberty never really ends, does it?

adult themes and situations, language

12.Mar.01

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