Running time: 93 minutes
Rating 8 out of 10
Having set the majority of his films in and around his beloved New York, Woody Allen has been on something of a European sojourn of late. After basing his last three films in London, he's moved on to beautiful Barcelona for what is his most satisfying film in years. In the way that Manhattan is a central feature of his films, here the Catalan capital, with its stunning Gaudi architecture, is as much a star as the two people the film shares its title with. After populating his recent films with a variety of unappealing characters, it is a welcome relief to find Vicky Cristina Barcelona inhabited with a far more engaging selection. Of course, they are bedeviled with hang-ups, crippling self-doubt and the all the neuroses you'd expect of Allen, but along with their flaws are plenty of endearing traits. The one most central to the film is passion. The four main figures find themselves caught in a complicated web of desire, resulting in a work of rich emotional vitality.
Allen's latest muse, Scarlett Johansson, plays the vivacious Cristina who, together with her far more reserved friend Vicky (Rebecca Hall), is visiting Barcelona. Vicky's purpose for the trip is to work on her thesis on Catalan Lifestyle, and relax before her impending wedding to the strait-laced Doug (Chris Messina), while Cristina is simply there to have fun, something she is well practiced in.
Her adventurous spirit is highlighted when she agrees to the bold proposition made by Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a local painter who introduces himself to the two girls at a restaurant and immediately invites them to fly with him on a weekend trip to Oviedo for some sightseeing, wine, food and "lovemaking." When the shocked Vicky asks who exactly he proposes will be making love, the totally unabashed Juan replies, "Hopefully, all three of us."
Cut to Vicky cramped inside a small plane. Cristina acquiesces to Juan's sexual invitation, but when she gets ill he accompanies Vicky around the town. In time her initial iciness towards Juan slowly begins to melt as she finds his uninhibited nature unlocking her repressed feelings. Soon Cristina moves in with Juan while the conflicted Vicky wrestles with her conscience. Into this entangled situation bursts Juan Antonio's ex-wife, the explosive Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) whose violent temper further ignites what is already an emotionally combustible mix.
Allen has created four richly colourful and detailed central characters, all given luminosity and life by Bardem, Hall, Johansson and particularly Cruz whose Maria Elena is like a beautiful whirlwind as she rips through life, scattering everything in her wake. If Allen's films are a reflection of the location in which they are set, then after the drab cynicism of his London work, the radiant passion and sunshine of Vicky Cristina Barcelona suggests he should stick to warmer climes.
Kevin Murphy
