Malèna is a nostalgic and well-meaning, if not misguided, work centered on a teen boy, whose infatuation with the town beauty grows from crush, to infatuation, to affection. His psychological journey parallels Sicily before, during, and after World War II, as he matures from naivete to grim reality and understanding.

The setting is 1940, in the fictional Sicilian village of Castelcuto, where Renato Amoroso (Giuseppe Sulfaro) and his friends are smitten by the mysterious Malèna (Monica Bellucci). Her strolls through town capture all the men’s imagination, as well as the resentment and envy from all the women. Presented initially as a boyish crush, Renato’s attention to Malèna grows into obsession, watching her through a peephole and letting his teenage imagination run wild. He fantasizes her entering his room at night, playing out romances like in the movies, through sequences played for laughs but all staged by an adult woman smitten with a teenage boy.

As World War II continues to escalate, Malèna receives word that her husband is a casualty in North Africa, and, left with no other choice, she survives by taking on the company of the town’s men, and even the German occupiers. As Malèna struggles to survive, Renato enters into young manhood, finally old enough to wear long pants, earning a spot at the barbershop with the other adult men, all the while keeping a watchful eye on Malèna.

His gaze on her matures from shallow obsession to genuine compassion, as his understanding of the world grows from simplicity to complexity. His emotional journey to adulthood develops as he witnesses the trials and hardships faced by Malèna, making this film, from our contemporary lens, an uncomfortable takeaway; Renato’s growth from boy into man happens as a result of Malèna’s suffering, as though her tragic life is all meant to teach Renato a valuable lesson.

Similar to Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, Malèna is another memory-filled look at Sicily over time. It’s beautifully constructed, with rich, colorful cinematography plus vibrant real-life locations, including the romantic piazza of Ortigia and the white, otherworldly rocks of the Scala dei Turchi (Turkish Steps). The world is finite, for a boy during World War II with nowhere else to go, though still visually striking, as heightened images forever imprinted in his mind.

With its sentimentality, and somewhat thematic misfire, Malèna embodies nostalgia not only for the experience of growing up, from boyhood foolishness to adult understanding, but also an old-fashioned method of storytelling: not granting Malèna, the titular character and object of desire, a voice of her own, beyond what’s projected upon her by a child. Its location and fantastical sequences are charming, if one can reconcile (or disregard) the outdated execution of the story’s narrative arc.