Film review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Article published: Friday, March 20th 2009
Film: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
To dismiss it as a chick-flick with brains would be unfair, but to call it a sophisticated romantic comedy would be unduly flattering. What is certain about Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the tale of two American friends spending a summer together in Catalonia, is that Woody Allen does not live up to his reputation.
From the outset a lame binary pairing of characters makes you feel it is going to be a long and predictable picture.
The serious, sensible Vicky (Rebecca Hall) has her dreams categorically mapped out in the form of marriage to an unadventurous but reliable business type. Cristina (Scarlet Johansson), who is studying a post-graduate course on Catalan identity could not be more opposite: she is possessed of artistic aspirations, an appetite for adventure and a desire for experiences that are out of the ordinary.
Cristina immediately falls for Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a languorous and brilliant Spanish artist whose lamentations over his ex wife are matched only by his unashamed libido. His bold declaration that he wishes to get them both into bed enthrals Cristina and appalls Vicky; and briefly the three become entangled in a love triangle.
Johansson has shown herself to be capable of quietly subtle performances that are usually enchanting; but here Vicky comes across as a dense and, quite frankly, uninteresting dullard.
Fortunately, the film is saved from a turgid storyline halfway through with the arrival of the excellent Penelope Cruz, who has since won a deserved Oscar for best supporting actress. She plays Maria Elena, the fiery and tormented former wife of Juan Antonio, who injects a much-needed dynamism into proceedings.
A curious relationship develops between Vicky, Juan and Maria which offers an interesting view of polamory without an all-too-easy resort to prurience. Through farcical bilingual exchanges and tongue-in-cheek moments of poetic wit Allen saves the script and ultimately the film. Indeed, the unstable balance of the three erupts in moments of brilliant comedy, before Cristina finally sends the precarious triangular edifice of amour tumbling down.
Ultimately mildly amusing and knowingly clever in its circular plot ending, nobody changes and everybody ends up just where they started, with their dissatisfaction and unrealised desires intact. Is Allen trying to make some philosophical point? Hard to tell; his inimitable wit is evidently still in there somewhere, but these days it seems more like a rusty spoon than razor sharp.
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