WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The plot of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Woody Allen's 37th feature directorial effort, sounds like classic farce. A Spanish artist romances two young American women at the same time, juggling them effectively until his tempestuous ex-wife comes back into his life.
You can sense the comic potential, but Allen is more interested in commenting on the human condition than in drawing laughs. As a result, he has made his best film in years, after a decade-long drought that has sorely tested even his most loyal fans.
 Weinstein Co. Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson star in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina 'Barcelona.' For a larger, high resolution image, click HERE |
Attempting to work out of his slump, Allen has changed venues from his beloved New York. His London period ("Match Point," "Scoop," "Cassandra's Dream") seemed overly forced, but relocating to the romantic city of Barcelona seems to have awakened Allen's philosophic instincts. For beyond the surface story of summer conquests are musings on the nature of love and the creative process.
Vicky (British actress Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson, in her third film for Allen) are American friends on summer vacation, but polar opposites in their outlooks. Vicky is engaged to be married, working on her master's thesis in "Catalan identity," and very grounded, with a conventional suburban existence waiting for her at home. Cristina is a would-be actress in search of adventure, untethered and open to a casual sexual encounter.
Enter heavy-lidded, virile Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a bohemian painter and lady killer, who comes over to their table at a restaurant and asks them both to join him for a weekend of hedonistic food and sex. (Hey, it never hurts to ask, right?) Vicky is appalled, but Cristina is attracted by the notion and soon all three fly off to the tiny town of Oviedo. There, Cristina contracts food poisoning and lands in the hospital, while Vicky is seduced into Juan Antonio's bed.
He eventually has his way with Cristina too, who moves in with him, but before long their lives are disrupted by the return of Juan Antonio's ex-wife, the hot-blooded Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), his soul mate, but a woman too volatile - and alternately homicidal and suicidal - for him to live with. Still, he takes her into his home and a wary, smoldering menage a trois develops, undoubtedly a projection of Allen's own fantasies.
Some, but not all of their passions are channeled into creating art and the film suggests that the act of creation justifies the accompanying tumult.
Bardem is 180 degrees from his Oscar-winning role in "No Country for Old Men," here a charismatic lothario who erupts volcanically when he is around Cruz. She is all fury, a near-caricature of a hellcat. In comparison, both Hall and Johansson pale, though they fulfill their roles' less colorful demands.
Allen shows off Barcelona and its Gaudi architecture well, if somewhat self-consciously. He may not have any more stories to set here, but the Spanish city seems to have revitalized him as a filmmaker.
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Grade: B+
Rated PG-13: For mature material involving sexuality.
Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.
The verdict: At last an Allen film worth embracing, after a decade of disappointments.
Hap Erstein writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: herstein AT pbpost.com
