A Tragicomedy. Review on Vicky Christina Barcelona Movie

A tale so full of love and it’s complexities that one cannot help but love it. *As the movie opens, Vicky and Cristina are on their way to spend their summer in Barcelona. In words of the narrator as he introduces us to these two characters “…..The two best friends had been close since college and shared the same tastes and opinions on most matters, yet when it comes to the subject of love, it would be hard to find two more dissimilar viewpoints.

*Vicky had no tolerance for pain and no lust for combat. She was grounded and realistic. Her requirements in a man were seriousness and stability. She had become engaged to Doug because he was decent and successful and understood the beauty of commitment.

Cristina, on the other hand, expected something very different out of love. She had reluctantly accepted suffering as an inevitable component of deep passion, and was resigned to putting her feelings at risk. If you asked her what it was she was gambling her emotions on to win, she would not have been able to say. She knew what she didn't want, however, and that was exactly what Vicky valued above all else.”

So Vicky and Cristina while on their trip to Barcelona run into a Spanish painter Juan Antonio who takes them for a joy ride of a weekend to a beautiful coastal city in northern Spain - Oviedo. And from here starts a series of events which compile into a warm, witty, sexy and romantic story which gets even more spicy and exciting with the entry of Juan Antonio’s ex-wife Maria Elena.

*The Woody Allen touché:

*Vicky Cristina Barcelona starts as a summer holiday movie but we have got a lot to expect in terms of intelligence and wit when it’s a Woody Allen movie. And it delivers right away. Woody Allen without wasting much time gets straight to business by starting the movie with the narrator (Christopher Evan Welch’s voice) introducing the primary characters, thus fine-tuning the viewers’ expectations from the very start.

The movie goes on to dig deeper in Allen’s favorite topics “Love / Attraction / Commitment”. And while doing so, he never strays away from the characterization. By the time the movie is at it’s peak, each character has evolved very beautifully and that’s what makes the movie even more enjoyable. For example, when the movie starts Vicky is this girl who has a perfect vision of her life ahead and Cristina is this girl who doesn’t really know what she wants. But at two different points Vicky still being the same character, gets lost in moral / romantic issues and finds herself juggling between morality and love. On the other hand, Cristina who doesn’t know what she exactly wants, finds herself taking a stand to change certain things that have shaped up in her life due to her own choices but by the end, still ends up searching for something she doesn’t want.

*The Film:

*Vicky Cristina Barcelona works on the way it deals with human relationships. I specially loved the way Juan Antonio’s and Maria Elena’s relationship has been shaped up in the script. In one of the scenes when they are having a fight, Maria Elena throws light on what exactly re-started their relationship after their breakup and what’s breaking it again. Introduction of Cristina in their lives did bring that excitement back in their lives but now that she has left, it’s back to what it was – A ruined marriage. In a way so strange, Juan Antonio and Maria Elena’s relationship is incomplete without Cristina.

Special mention should go to cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe. The golden hues of a summer in Barcelona take the movie on a different level of beauty. Specially the scene where three characters are seen cycling on a small path.

*The Players:

*Amongst the cast each actor does justice to his / her respective role.

But the best among the lot is Penelope Cruz. She is not there for majority of the movie’s run-time but the moment she strikes the screen with her fiery Maria Elena, she simply ignites the proceeding reels with her suicidal, jealous, angry Spanish wife.

Rebecca Hall plays Vicky to a big V. She almost takes us with her through her confusion between a monogamous normal life with her husband or her wild attraction for Juan Antonio.

Scarlett Johansson gives Cristina exactly what the character needs. Ms. Johansson enacts the confusion of Cristina with ease.

Javier Bardem as the cool, seducing, in your face Juan Antonio is as convincing as he can be. Here is one actor who can play a ruthless killer in No Country For Old Men and a flirtatious painter in Vicky Cristina Barcelona with equal ease. He gets so much into the skin of the character that for a while it’s hard to believe, this is the same guy.

*Just Thoughts:

Woody Allen as in many of his movies (Match Point, Annie Hall, Husbands And Wives*) has effectively conveyed “Commitment” as being a social conspiracy, to which I agree. Mr. Allen sees humans more like chemicals. He mixes two or more chemicals and then just enjoys the chemistry. Here it so happens, that the chemicals happen to be humans. And with humans, chemistry has totally different dimensions.

Moreover I loved the thought that one of the character goes by saying “….only unfulfilled love can be romantic” That’s just so simply true. Though this is never said or shown directly in the movie, it somehow did strike me, “Love is too complicated an emotion to be kept in check by rules of morality.” To sum it all up, *Vicky Cristina Barcelona is one hell of a tragicomedy.

Quotable Quotes:

Juan Antonio: Maria Elena used to say that only unfulfilled love can be romantic.

Cristina: I'll go to your room, but you'll have to seduce me.

Juan Antonio: We are meant for each other and not meant for each other. It's a contradiction.

Maria Elena: You're still searching for me in every woman.

Juan Antonio: That is not true, Maria Elena. I was in Oviedo some weeks ago with a woman who was the antithesis of you. An American, and something beautiful happened with her. So you're mistaken.

Maria Elena: You'll always seek to duplicate what we had. You know it.

Juan Antonio: Well, I'd like to invite you both to come with me to Oviedo.

Vicky: To come where?

Juan Antonio: To Oviedo. For the weekend. We leave in one hour.

Cristina: What- Where is Oviedo?

Juan Antonio: A very short flight.

Vicky: By plane?

Juan Antonio: Mmm-hmm.

Cristina: What's in Oviedo?

Juan Antonio: I go to see a sculpture, that is very inspiring to me. A very beautiful sculpture. You will love it.

Vicky: Oh, right. you're asking us to fly to Oviedo and back.

Juan Antonio: Mmmm. No, we'll spend the weekend. I mean, I'll show you around the city, and we'll eat well. We'll drink good wine. We'll make love.

Vicky: Yeah, who exactly is going to make love?

Juan Antonio: Hopefully, the three of us.

Juan Antonio: Love is so transient. Isn't it? I was in love with a most incredible woman... and then in the end... She put a knife into me.