The 2000 Italian love film, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Monica Bellucci and Guisepe Sulfaro, tells the story of Marlena, a beautiful young woman on the Island of Sicily in Italy during World War II, through the perspective of the young Renardo.
In 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, and the 12-year-old Reinaldo got his first bicycle, the day he met Marlena for the first time, and his older friends rode their bicycles to chase and watch beautiful women. From that day on, Marlena's figure lingered in Reinaldo's mind, unable to concentrate in class, sleeping soundly, riding his bicycle around the town searching for Marlena, stalking her, spying on her, or waiting at her doorstep, fantasizing that the other party would appear in front of him in sexy pajamas and let himself buy her a cigarette.
When beautiful women are infested on the street, men will invariably stop and stare or take the initiative to talk, and women are gossiping and full of jealousy. Marlena is the most beautiful woman in town, he has a husband who joined the army, and now lives alone, and every trip will be the focus of everyone in the town.
Reinaldo peeped to learn that Marlena was a dedicated woman, he ran to buy the records she often listened to at home, fantasized that Marlena would knock on her door at night, he would lie on the beach and write love letters to Marlena, watching her go to the other men's houses for a long time, and was relieved to learn that the man was her father.
Marlena received the news that her husband had died in battle, how much Reinaldo wanted to accompany and comfort Marlena, but he never had the courage to go in, and at the funeral he only watched from a distance as Marlena being dressed as a virgin, the men talked about Marlena's joke with the dentist, Reinaldo quietly spit in the milk or smashed their glass in return, the women were even more vicious, Reynaldo quietly peed in their bags in retaliation, and came to the statue of the saint to pray that he could protect Marlena for him before he grew up.
Reynaldo runs to Marlena's house and steals one of her panties to satisfy his infinite fantasies, but is discovered by his family, who imprisons him as a pervert.
Marlena's father leaves after receiving letters insulting and slandering his daughter, and Reinaldo bravely fights with his classmates who laugh at him to defend Marlena's reputation. He sneaks into Marlena's house again at night and finds her dating Lieutenant Cady, and when she leaves, Cady wrestles with the dentist who claims to be Marlena's fiancé, until the dentist's wife arrives at the scene and uses this to take Marlena to court and accuse her of seducing her husband. When the whole town learned of this, regardless of the truth, he bluntly said that Marlena was a slut, and even his father refused to allow Marlena to enter the door.
Desperate, Marlena had to ask for help from the lawyer, and at the trial, Marlena bluntly said that she had nothing to do with the dentist, claiming that her fiancé was purely his fabrication, but Lieutenant Cady was affected by this matter and also cleared his relationship with Marlena or was transferred to Albania, the lawyer successfully defended Marlena, and afterwards demanded that her meat pay a high legal fee, Marlena was humiliated, and Reinaldo angrily smashed the arm of the saint statue.
The men of the town began to talk about Marlena unabashedly, treating her as a prostitute, refusing to sell things to her, and had no job, so they had to find black-hearted merchants to exchange some food, And Reinaldo looked at it in his heart and wanted to go up and give help, but after several passing by, he still did not have the courage to come forward and talk, or wrote love letters that he would not send.
Marlena's father died in the bombing, the people of the town came to her father's funeral for Marlena, Marlena was so heartbroken, that night she cut off her long hair and began to wear beautiful clothes, in order to make a living, she really became a prostitute in people's mouths, a redhead looked ahead and went to the street full of spirits, and everyone rushed to light a cigarette. Marlena began to interact with Nazi German officers, and Reinaldo was powerless and paralyzed. The mother asked the godmother to exorcise the ghost for her son, and the father took Reinaldo to the brothel to make him an adult, and also cured his heart disease and returned to normal.
The Allies liberated Sicily, and everyone greeted the American soldiers with joy, and the women dragged Marlena out, tore her clothes, cut her hair, and beat her all over the body, while the men watched coldly. The next day, Marlena stepped alone on the departing train, and Reinaldo had mixed feelings and threw the once obscene record into the sea.
Suddenly one day, Marlena's husband came to the town, it turned out that he was not dead, just missing an arm, he should have been treated heroically for the bloody battle for the motherland, but found that his house had been occupied, his wife had become a slut in the mouth of the people and disappeared, no one told him the truth and no one knew the truth, except Reinaldo. Reinaldo plucked up the courage to write to her husband about what had happened to Marlena and where she had gone.
A year later, the town seems to be no different, the dentist is still, the lawyer is still obscene, but Reynaldo has his girlfriend, and at this time Marlena appears in the town with her husband's arm, and the woman she relies on wins the respect of other women, and they finally take the initiative to greet her, even if they are former abusers.
Reynaldo rode his bicycle again to see Marlena, took the initiative to help her pick up the oranges that had fallen to the ground, and finally spoke to her and wished her good luck, Marlena nodded in response.