see, when you have monica bellucci, the literal embodiment of female beauty, as your main character, the last thing you should do is fetishize her character beyond repair. but that’s exactly what malena does. bellucci is honestly the only good thing about this movie, and sometimes the cinematography tries to make up for the flaws, but it just doesn’t succeed. this could have so easily been something on the level of l'avventura, but alas :( i expected so much more, and instead it just left a bad taste in my mouth.