Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson & Rebecca Hall
Woody Allen’s best film in years which, while far from his most celebrated pictures, is still intelligent, funny and enjoyable.
After a few recent flops, Scoop and Cassandra’s Dream, Woody Allen’s latest effort relocates the action from the London locales of his last three films to sunny Barcelona. It is a wise move as the lush, warm location and culture enhances his latest looks into romance and relationships and is further bolstered by performances by local, Spanish talents Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
The Vicky and Cristina of the title refers too two tourists visiting Barcelona. Vicky (Rebecca Hall), is sensible, engaged to be married, knows what she wants and feels she’s found it while Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is more impulsive, less certain of what she wants or who she wants. Whilst visiting Barcelona, the two are approached by a local artist, Juan Antonio (Bardem), attempting to seduce them. Cristina accepts, wishing to see the sights of Barcelona and Juan Antonio’s attempts to charm her, and Vicky is dragged along. What occurs is an unexpected romantic encounter that shakes Vicky’s certainty over what she wants from life and Cristina finding a life that might be what she was looking for all along which takes further interesting turns when Juan Antonio’s ex-girlfriend Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) moves in with Cristina and Juan Antonio.
The story of Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an entertaining one. The characters are well written, the courses of their relationships and feelings taking unpredictable yet natural paths and takes advantage of the rich Catalan culture of the area. The film is also helped by several strong performances. Rebecca Hall, still a relative newcomer, gives an impressive performance as Vicky. Vicky’s progression from a woman confident in her identity and desires and cynical of more spontaneous, wistful lifestyles such as that of her friend Cristina to a woman shaken by a romantic encounter that makes her question her previous lifestyle choices, becoming very nervous and uncertain is portrayed very effectively by Hall. Vicky’s character arc, and Hall’s performance, is perhaps the most complex and interesting in the film. Javier Bardem is also impressive as Juan Antonio, an artist who embraces love, sees it as something to enjoy even if he feels it is more romantic if left unfulfilled. Bardem performs the role with warmth and charm and wins over audiences, despite his non-traditional approach to relationships, as he charms Vicky and Cristina. Another stand out performance is Penelope Cruz as Juan Antonio’s talented, yet unstable, ex-girlfriend and fellow artist Maria Elena. Full of energy, of love and of anger, Cruz commands attention in her every scene and her interactions with Bardem prove how perfect, yet also how wrong, their characters are for each other.
If there is a weakness in the performances of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it lies with Scarlett Johansson. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is Johansson’s third film with Woody Allen however this is likely her most demanding role of the three. Whilst Johansson does perform quite well, capturing the indecisive, impulsive nature of her character, when sharing scenes with performers such as Bardem and Cruz, her performance feels somewhat flat in comparison and far less memorable than that of her co-stars, even in scenes with Hall, her performance and character comes over as less than the equal of Hall’s Vicky. Whilst the performance is occasionally distracting, it satisfies more often than not. More distracting and less satisfying is Woody Allen’s choice of narrator for the film. While the narration in Vicky Cristina Barcelona serves a purpose in allowing the story to skip past unnecessary scenes of exposition and getting to heart of the story, the choice of narrator (Christopher Evan Welch) results in a voice that feels intrusive to the tone of the film and too often sounds bland and clinical whereas another choice, perhaps even Woody Allen himself, would have been warmer and delivering moment of wit with more success.
Overall though, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an enjoyable film. Smart and featuring a dry wit that Woody Allen’s fans will appreciate and featuring several strong performances. It has some flaws and is less satisfying as Allen’s earlier films, but there is still much to enjoy and recommend to audiences.
Rating: 4/5
