Italians Sexier Than Yanks?

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/19/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

What's the difference between Americans and Italians when it comes to love? "For the American audience, it's necessary to reduce the showing of the sensuality," "Cinema Paradiso" director Giuseppe Tornatore told PEOPLE at last night's New York premiere of his latest film, "Malena." Set in war-torn Sicily, the movie tells the story of Renato, a 13-year-old boy who constantly fantasizes about a beautiful war widow. She's 27. But those fantasies are different on American screens than they are on Italian. Tornatore says he had to adapt the movie before bringing it over the Atlantic. "I had to cut . . . minutes out of my movie," he admitted. Of course, part of it may have to do that Malena, after her husband is killed, is forced to become a prostitute and among her sexual encounters is a graphic orgy with German soldiers (as imagined by Renato). Well, there's always the DVD director's cut.