7/10. Here's why:

If I had read MALENA's script before watching it, I would've say "This is clearly a drama" but, for some reason, it was directed as a comedy. What's odd is that the director and the script writer are the same person! When movies are uneven it's usually because of the script, which prevents the audience from liking the plot. Since this time the directing is to blame, I was still able to admire what was happening on screen, even when the editing was preventing me to really absorb the tragic moments. Since this story is told from RENATO's point of view, the title character isn't as developed as she could've been. I mean as a character. Get your head out of the gutter! Therefore, all Monica Belucci had to do was show up and look pretty, but she does more than that. Her performance is great. RENATO didn't really love MALENA. Sorry, I'm not trying to be a buzzkiller. In fact, coming-of-age stories like this can still be enjoyed because the protagonists really believe that they're in love, and there's nothing wrong with that. We've all been there but, when we grow up, we realize that we mistook love for lust. At the end of this movie, old RENATO tells us through naration that he had a bunch of relationships (maybe serious ones) and he still believed that MALENA was the love of his life. I didn't like that it ended on that note because it sends out the wrong message. Again, it's not that he was just a horny teenager; he did care about her. I mean, he was worried about her well-being, unlike the other men in town. However, he was not that much better than them. When she was being beaten (a rip-off of a scene from ZORBA THE GREEK, by the way), any men could've helped her. They didn't because they had no problem pretending that she was in love with them, but they couldn't step up and be real men. RENATO is the one who really couldn't have helped but, after that, he was the only one who could've helped MALENA's husband. And no, it wasn't like when he couldn't tell everyone that the rumours about her weren't true because then he would've had to expose himself as a stalker. He didn't need to give the husband details about himself; just that she had been beaten up because of false rumours.