Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona chronicles the liaisons of two American women summering in Spain. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) believes in monogamy while Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is interested in experimentation. The insouciant hedonistic painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) audaciously propositions them much to Vicky's shock and Christina's delight. As fate has it, Cristina receives food poisoning incapacitating her for the weekend, leaving Antonio and Vicky alone together. Vicky has trouble dealing with the aftermath, and melancholically resigns to watching Cristina, Antonio and Antonio's passionately temperamental ex-wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz) embrace their sensations. In the end, after both Maria and Vicky leave Antonio, he pleads with Vicky for one last assignation, having fallen victim to ancient laws of the heart, only Paris being able to slay Achilles. The girls return home, astute students of the senses, Christina still solely aware of that which she does not want, Vicky finding strength through fidelity. Another tale wherein ideological points of view are challenged by the heuristics of happenstance, where characters submit to either that which they long to possess or can never comprehend.
In the beginning, the narration is tedious, but, as the film progresses it becomes more endearing, thereby formally deconstructing the logic of first impressions. And Cruz's performance is outstanding, stealing each and every scene she graces, the wild chaotic impulsive destructive yet inspiring Latino genius, demanding her whims be worshipped, simultaneously driving and deflating Antonio's art.
Nice to see Woody Allen can still pull it off.
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