Malena

Amidst the war climate, a teenage boy discovering himself becomes love-stricken by Malèna, a sensual woman living in a small, narrow-minded Italian town.

AroView: The director of CINEMA PARADISO throws an amber-lit glow around a man’s memory of a boyhood infatuation in his hometown in WWII Sicily.

As a serio-comic study of adolescent male desire, equal parts idealisation, lust and awe, this has its moments, with schoolteacher Monica Bellucci making a ravishing object of desire. Although it loses a little shine with a misjudged commentary on the fascist dimension of the period, this, like its much-loved predecessor offers a stylish version of European nostalgia.