The love Renato feels for Malena feels very pure. While at first his interest in her comes from the sexual appeal, as the movie progresses I felt that change throughout his arc into instead seeing her as a full person as he follows her around. With the way that it's set up, the movie feels very juvenile which helps fit the coming-of-age story that this builds up. Renato wants to be a man for Malena, but he would rather live in fantasy and what could be instead of taking action. There were moments where I thought Renato would step up and be there for her, but instead he chose to stay within the crowd and observe her, even at her lowest. At the same time however, that's the point of it. Renato is still very much a kid and his relationship with Malena can't happen because he's just too young to live fully.
The character of Malena herself also makes this film so intriguing to me. From everyone else's point of view they see Malena as competition. Because of that the women will complain about her being a whore or the men will all try to get with her. The envy from the townsfolk create an atmosphere of disdain around her in public but it really made me feel the difference at the very end when she greets the town at the end of the film.
I really loved the visual style of the film, the reality pushed within Renato's fantasies really put me within his mind. I also loved the use of framing and lateral camera moves to go around a space, such as when the camera tracks Malena's visit to the lawyer and the camera goes from window to window before just trucking into the space.
