Malèna
What is the most obvious course of action if you are a 12-year-old Sicilian boy when the fascist government is taking over and the Allies are bombing your village? Stalk the gorgeous Madonna who just recently moved into town. That's basically the entire plot of Malèna, an Italian romantic drama starring Monica Bellucci.
The story begins with our male protagonist Renato Amoroso joining the local group of boys as they stare at the beautiful 27-year-old Malèna Scordia and comment on her "nice ass" as she walks past them. This leads to Renato's later obsession of following Signore Scordia throughout town on his bike. While Renato is creeping, he notices many private moments in Malèna's life, from crying about her husband's alleged death to being persuaded into prostitution rather than go hungry.
This film is primarily a narrative about Malèna's life, although, some comedic elements are thrown in. For example, Malèna's father is an almost deaf Latin professor which leads to some hilarious scenes where the boys point to the bathroom, saying "May I screw your daughter?" Signore Scordia believes they are all asking to go to the restroom and says, "Yes, but not all at once."
With Malèna causing everyone in the town to turn heads, the result is humorous shots, bouncing from character to character as they gossip of Malèna and her rumored promiscuous sex life. Renato overhears these rumors and proceeds to urinate in a woman's pocketbook or throw rocks into the barbershop window in order to "protect" Malèna's name, as consequence of his unrequited love. Another consequence is that Renato frequently fantasizes about Malèna which results in loud jerking off sessions. The first time causes his father yell "You'll go blind!", and, after the second time, he flat-out locks him in his bedroom.
Meanwhile, Malèna faces adultery charges; however, she gets a lawyer named Centorbi who proves to the court her innocence due to the fact that she is a widow. After her acquittal, Centorbi, using her unpaid legal fee as leverage, forced himself upon her while Renato peeped in from outside of her house and subsequently fell from a tree.
Eventually, his mother and the older ladies think that he has been possessed and take him to church for an exorcism. His father however says he simply needs to become a man and "fuck". His solution is to take him to a brothel where Renato (remember that he is 12-years-old) has sex with one of the prostitutes while fantasizing that she is Maléna. (This was one of several scenes censored or completely cut from the American and British prints - which is why US and UK moviegoers won't have seen Maléna naked in front of Renato in their version, although stills of such an event are available online. For a complete list of what's missing from the film outside Italy, go here. It should go without saying that it's NSFW, including the aforementioned stills - and, sad to say, what's mentioned in the next paragraph.)
Then the ladies of the town go crazy jealous and beat up Malèna dreadfully in a very depressing scene...
- Abusive Parents: Renato's, especially his father.
- All Men Are Perverts: Or the vast majority thereof.
- Back from the Dead: Her husband, at the end of the film.
- Beauty Is Bad: Subverted since Maléna is not bad but the other women in the town have this attitude. The lawyer actually references the trope when defending her in court.
- Big Brother Instinct: Even though Renato is actually in love with Malena, his actions to the people gossiping about her have undertones of this.
- Bitch Alert: Every. Woman. In. The. Town.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Maléna herself cycles through all three colors in the film.
- Brick Joke: Renato makes his father swear to buy him a pair of long pants when Il Duce dies. After quite a while when it's confirmed Mussolini has been overthrown, we see Renato getting a pair of pants made for him.
- Chivalrous Pervert
- Christmas Cake: The women of the town decide Malena has become this at the end.
- A Date with Rosie Palms: Renato.
- Decoy Protagonist: Maléna. The film is more actually Renato's story and how she fits into it.
- Distracted by the Sexy: The men of the town, by Maléna.
- Downer Ending: Sort of averted. The townswomen let Maléna back into their lives, she's reunited with her husband, and Renato finally talks directly to her before she walks out of his life forever; the narrator (Renato as an adult) then tells us that he's known many women who asked him not to forget her, but the only woman who never asked - Maléna - is the only one he's never forgotten.
- Erotic Dream: Renato has them about Maléna.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Maléna's long dark hair represents her purity and innocence. When she cuts it and dyes it red it is symbolic of her becoming a prostitute. The blonde hair then symbolizes her giving herself over to the Germans. Her natural brown hair has grown back but not completely at the end, showing how she still carries the scars of what happened to her.
- Fan Disservice: Maléna is dragged into the middle of the town in her lingerie and beaten savagely. She's half nude but also covered in blood and crying.
- The scene at the brothel comes across as this as well. You have all the whores surrounding Renato and mockingly blowing kisses at him and making fun of him. The way the scene is done makes it more creepy than sexy.
- Foreshadowing: When Maléna walks through the town as a redhead for the first time one woman can be heard saying "I'd like to cut off all that hair." Oh dear...
- Heroes Want Redheads: Invoked by Maléna's first "client".
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold
- Imagine Spot: Renato has a hilarious one where he imagines his teacher is Malena and says "is it true you're getting married" only for the elderly woman to angrily throw him out of the class.
- Karma Houdini: The women of the town who beat up Malena in public.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: The eponymous Maléna.
- Male Gaze: And how.
- Ms. Fanservice: Maléna.
- Right Through His Pants: Averted as the 12-year-old Renato has very little modesty in the sex scene, but that is cut out in many versions of the film.
- Shout-Out: Renato's dreams are shout outs to many films such as Bonnie and Clyde, King Kong and Cleopatra.
- Traumatic Haircut: Poor Maléna.
- Woman in Black: Maléna when she becomes a prostitute.
- Woman in White: Used early on with Maléna to distinguish her from the other women.