![]() ![]() Vicky Cristina Barcelona begins without much fanfare. This fast and forward-thinking city, home to artists of every sort, provides a fine setting for a story that moves quickly and takes some unexpected turns. As the title makes clear, Allen chose the much warmer Catalan capital of Barcelona for his latest offering. Prior to Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Allen’s recent films, including Matchpoint (2005), Scoop (2006) and Cassandra’s Dream (2008),were staged in London. ![]() The actors are attractive, the city is magnificent, the love scenes don't get all sweaty, and everybody finishes the summer a little wiser and with a lifetime of memories.Woody Allen has a penchant for making films that draw out existential questions from extraordinary situations, situations that are inextricably linked to the places in which they occur. Allen has set out to amuse and divert us and discover secrets of human nature, but not tragically deep ones. It is all fairly harmless, although fraught with dire possibilities. More surprises than this I must not describe. As Hollywood learned long ago, there's nothing like a seductive location to lend interest to whatever is happening in the foreground. All the time, Allen gives us a tour of the glories of Barcelona, the city of Gaudi and Miro, the excuse being that Juan Antonio is showing the girls the sights. There are unexpected arrivals and developments.Īnd by now we're engrossed in this comedy, which is really a fantasy, beginning with Juan Antonio, who is too cool and good to be true. Vicky and Cristina have conversations in which they show they are open-minded, but perhaps not very prudent. Judy, the relative, discovers Vicky's secret and urges her to go with her heart, not her prudence. If everybody knows and accepts what everybody is doing, where's the harm? Cristina is predisposed to such excitement, and Vicky's love for the stable, responsible, absent Doug begins to pale in comparison with this bohemian existence. A menage a quatre takes shape - shaky, but fascinating.Īllen is amusing when he applies strict logic to the situation. The tragedy is, she and Juan Antonio are still deeply in love with each other - but they can't live together without violence flaring up. And then the film lingers in the complications of the relationships among these three people, before introducing a fourth element: the former wife Maria Elena ( Penelope Cruz). Cristina accepts, of course "with no guarantees." Juan Antonio has, in his own words, made a polite, frank and straightforward offer. He approaches their table, and in quiet, measured tones suggests they fly with him in his plane to an interesting city, see the sights and sleep with him. "That's because you can't take your eyes off of him," says Vicky. At midnight in a restaurant (a conventional dinner hour in Barcelona), the two girls see him across the room. Judy explains that he is Juan Antonio ( Javier Bardem), an abstract artist, and there was a scandal over his divorce when he tried to kill his wife or she tried to kill him - the details are muddled. They all go to an art gallery show, and Cristina wonders who the man in the red shirt is. "Maybe teach, or work for a museum?" Her Spanish, it can be observed, could use some work. Vicky, we learn is majoring in "Catalan studies," which makes the capital of Catalonia a perfect destination for her. Cristina is more impulsive, more adventurous, not afraid to risk a little turmoil. We're briefed by a narrator that Vicky values stable relationships and is engaged to marry Doug ( Chris Messina) when she returns. In this film, we meet two best friends, Vicky ( Rebecca Hall) and Cristina ( Scarlett Johansson), who decide to spend July and August in the Barcelona home of Vicky's relatives, Judy and Mark ( Patricia Clarkson and Kevin Dunn). Allen's discovery of Europe (of London, Paris, Venice, Barcelona) has provided new opportunities for the poet of Manhattan (and " Manhattan"). ![]()
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