Film Review

Juan (Javier Bardem) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) in "Vicki Cristina Barcelona" (2008). Photo ©Victor Bello / Weinstein Co.

Rating: (5 out of 5)
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Christopher Evan Welch, Chris Messina

A Woody Allen movie on general release is, um, much unexpected. He has mostly been making awful movies like “Match Point” (2005) and “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion” (2001), or pretty damned good ones such as “Melinda and Melinda” (2004). And he seems to have a, let’s say crush, on Scarlett Johansson. I guess someone’s got to!

Woody Allen is unapologetically intellectual, pretentious, romantic and po-faced. There is some humour in “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” (2008), but not much. The storyline revolves around handsome libertine painter Juan (an outstanding, Javier Bardem) who asks two attractive young women: Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) and Vicky (newcomer Rebecca Hall) to his house in the Spanish countryside for an orgy of sex, wine and art. The women agree to go. Cristina is eager to explore her sexuality and have an adventure, while the more repressed Vicky is about to get married to her tedious boyfriend, and acts reluctant to go. Although hesitant, Vicky begins to fall for Juan who is someone with a giant ego and unexpected sensitivity. At the same time he and Cristina are deeply sexually involved. But there is still something hidden from the two women. Juan has an ex-lover Elena (Penelope Cruz) who enters the film, halfway through, traumatized by another botched suicide attempt, and hurls abuse at Juan over his new companions. Elena, a painter herself, suffers the rarely acknowledged pain of the Libertine, where love and betrayal sit side by side, as he moves from one lover to the next.

“Vicki Cristina Barcelona” (2008) is a movie that is captivating due to its satisfying sense of closure—i.e.  it explains what happens to each of the main characters. However, it’s the journey that counts, and this is a beautiful one, with beautiful scenery and people—a film that sits comfortably alongside Allen’s best.