Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona tells the tale of two young women’s whimsical journey through romantic Spain. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is a straight-laced graduate student with a passion for Catalan culture. Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is a free-spirited aspiring actress whose flightiness is matched by her friend Vicky’s rigidness. In Barcelona the friends meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a tortured artist with a beautiful, volatile ex-wife (played by Penelope Cruz), and complications immediately ensue. Both friends find themselves attracted to the brooding artist and his bohemian lifestyle, an attraction that proves particularly poignant in the case of Vicky. When her fiancée Doug (Chris Messina) appears in Spain, the sharp contrast between the passionate Juan Antonio and the phlegmatic Doug is highlighted, making Vicky wonder if a stable, predictable life really will satisfy her. Meanwhile, Cristina embarks on a journey of self-discovery in the company of Juan Antonio and his violently passionate ex-wife Maria Elena.
Woody Allen’s current muse, the versatile Scarlett Johansson, performs well in this film as the American girl with no idea what the future holds. Bardem – who won a Best Supporting Oscar for the Cormac McArthy novel-turned-film No Country for Old Men last year – also fills out his role satisfactorily. His dark sultriness marks a departure from the sociopath with the bad haircut he played in No Country for Old Men. It is almost astonishing to compare the eerie villainy of that character to the tortured but idealistic Juan Antonio in this film. Cruz is as sexy and volatile as her character demands, but it is relative newcomer Rebecca Hall who makes this film worth the ticket price. Her character, so resolute at the beginning of the film, begins to vacillate between wanting the steady life Doug offers and the wild, unfulfilling bohemian life that Juan Antonio provides. She is the most interesting character, as her indecisiveness is internal but easily recognized in Hall’s expressive features.
The cinematography is impressive, showing the arid grandeur of Spain in its sweep, alternating wide panoramas with intimate, color-saturated close-ups.
As of all Woody Allen films, this one winds up a little unfinished, with some loose ends untied. But the characters are so defined, so eccentric, and so familiar that we almost want to fly to Barcelona to meet them ourselves.