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Porter. The script also contains fewer of those quotable one-liners than we might Homage to expect. This time comedy flows more from character than from language. Allen has often used an off-camera narrator to in fill in the back story or comment on the action, and most frequently he reads the BY RICHARD A. BLAKE script himself. The unmistakable voice adds its own flavor to the text. In this film, ICKY CRISTINA BARCE- the wine; by themselves they don’t provide reads the lines, LONA, Woody Allen’s delight- a satisfying full meal. This film brings its but never appears on screen. The perfect- ful new romantic comedy, own kind of light satisfaction. It is breezy ly neutral voice eliminates the need for reminds me of a platter of tapas. yet thoughtful, but without the bulk of, expository scenes to fill in background, VThe master chef takes familiar ingredi- say, “” or provides smooth transitions and fills in ents, adds a few new spices, devises sever- “Manhattan.” details nicely, without making us think of al clever combinations of flavors, alters the Heading south, far from his usual Woody Allen. presentation a bit and creates something claustrophobic caverns of New York or For the most part the cast consists of that appears innovative but also fulfills the London, Allen creates a fresh look for his newcomers to Planet Woody. Scarlett diner’s expectation of the recognizable. film in the sun-bathed streets and lush Johansson is the veteran; she also appeared Olé! Comfort food with a zing. Old Chef gardens of the Mediterranean. The cam- in Allen’s “” and “Scoop.” Woody is up to new tricks. Also, tapas are era of Javier Aguirresarobe lovingly Allen and his longtime casting director, light, merely adding to the enjoyment of caresses golden architecture, lush foliage Juliet Taylor, have chosen the actors with and open skies. This does not look like a uncanny skill. Their choices make the film RICHARD A. BLAKE, S.J., is professor of fine Woody Allen film. Nor does it sound like far more successful than it should be. arts and co-director of the film studies pro- one. The music has an appropriately Latin The physical appearance of the actors gram at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, sound, rather than the characteristic actually reveals a tremendous amount Mass. Dixieland renditions of Gershwin and about the inner workings of the charac-

Javier Bardem and in a scene from the movie “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” PHOTO: CNS/MGM

September 8, 2008 America 31 ters. As the sensuously beautiful Cristina, Antonio, a local artist, with heavy lids, full the quest of the modern urbanite both looks unsettled and lips and a three-day beard. They exchange poignant and, at the same time, terribly vulnerable. With her height and sharp fea- glances with him. Later that night, at a funny in its inevitable futility. Their love tures, Rebecca Hall, as Vicky, uses the restaurant, Juan Antonio comes to their affairs are fleeting and ultimately empty, cool appearance of an aspiring academic to table, and without bothering with small but with nothing else to reach for, his mask inner panic at the uncertainty of her talk, abruptly invites them to spend a characters cherish the momentary joy they life. , fresh from his weekend with him in Oviedo, on the bring to life. In his seduction speech in the Academy Award as the psychopathic killer northern coast. They will enjoy the restaurant, Juan Antonio persuades Vicky in “No Country for Old Men,” blends the scenery, the art, the wine and, of course, and Cristina with a summary statement of same sense of menace into the romantic the sex. Vicky finds the proposition crass, Allen’s grim view of the world: Why hesi- lead, an artist named Juan Antonio. but Cristina finds it intriguing. Vicky tate if there is no morality? The artist cre- Penélope Cruz, as Maria Elena, Juan agrees to go along for the art, but she ates his own moral universe. Antonio’s estranged wife, has the wiry fig- remains adamant about the rest of it, Most of Allen’s New York characters ure, burning eyes and ample mane of wild insisting on separate rooms. Cristina har- dwell on the fringes of the literary and black hair to suggest the turmoil of her bors no such inhibitions. As it turns out, academic worlds. They are writers of inner life. (As their marriage burst apart at however, fate intervenes, and Vicky suc- undemonstrated talent who can’t quite the seams, it’s not clear who tried to mur- cumbs to his charms before Cristina. finish their novel and can’t quite admit der whom.) , as Judy Before this triangle can sort itself out, that they may be deceiving themselves. Nash, the “older woman,” has the thin Doug arrives from New York with a grand In their insecurity, they twitch and stam- lips, tightly combed straight hair and ner- scheme of having a romantic wedding in mer, like the character Allen plays so vous gestures that suggest years of sup- Spain before a church wedding for their often himself. Juan Antonio’s self-pos- pressed frustration. These five actors friends back home. He has been so busy session and clarity of vision make him could appear in a set of still photographs, making money that this may be the first doubly menacing to the women in his and one could devise a plausible plot for a romantic or impulsive thought he has ever life. He speaks and paints without hesita- film script. had in his life. Vicky must choose between tion or self-doubt. Vicky and Cristina The splendidly conceived personali- Juan Antonio and Doug; between the feel inadequate in his presence. Judy ties wrestle with the same existential ques- Dionysian and the dull. As she tries to admires him from a distance. He keeps tions and suffer from the same neuroses think through her dilemma, she happens Maria Elena teetering on the edge of that Allen’s Manhattan-based characters upon Judy in a compromising situation. madness. His art represents the ideal have for the past 40 years. As the story Humiliated, Judy tries to explain to Vicky they can never achieve. opens, best friends Vicky and Cristina how miserable her life with Mark has In this film, language provides have just arrived in Barcelona to spend a been. Her therapist asks why she has not another clue to Allen’s sense of alien- summer as the guests of family friends, left her husband, and she admits that she is ation. None of the Americans speak Mark (Kevin Dunn) and Judy Nash. Vicky too afraid to go. Vicky sees her own life Spanish with any fluency. Juan Antonio will do research on her master’s thesis on through the prism of Judy’s. and Maria Elena both speak English, but Catalan culture. Her dedication or skill While Vicky dithers, Cristina renews in moments of passion they revert to may be questionable, since even at this her pursuit of adventure and moves into Spanish, thus excluding Cristina and point in the project, her Spanish remains Juan Antonio’s studio. While one triangle Vicky from their more intimate less than rudimentary. No crisis, however. seems to have resolved itself, another exchanges. Juan Antonio’s father is a She is engaged to Doug (Chris Messina) a develops. Maria Elena, fresh from her lat- great poet, but he will not publish his wealthy up-and-coming attorney, who est suicide attempt, returns to Juan poems. He keeps his thoughts to himself. looks as though he just stepped out of a Antonio; the three share the studio, and Doug and Vicky repeatedly try to use Lands’ End catalogue. She will be taken the women share Juan Antonio. Despite cellphones that do not work. At every care of, master’s or not. If Vicky cannot this arrangement, the two women eventu- turn, these people cannot or will not see it, we can: 10 years of marriage to ally become close friends. The three seem communicate. When Doug and Mark Doug will turn her into Judy. She com- to inspire one another in their artistic make small talk about a mutual business pares security to freedom and cannot work, and Cristina discovers that she may associate in New York, the inanity of decide what she wants. actually have talent after all. their exchange seems to build a wall between them. In their convivial chatter, Complex Love Triangle In an Amoral Universe they make language a defensive weapon. Cristina, however, has few doubts. After All these erotic shenanigans actually make Don’t listen to their annoying blather. college she spent three years making a 12- a profoundly moral point in this PG-13 Sit back and enjoy the tapas, the wine and minute film on the various phases of love, rated film. Throughout his career, Allen the conversation with Woody Allen. but she isn’t sure about becoming a film- has examined the emptiness of urban life. You’ll feel refreshed, but not stuffed. A maker. She comes to Barcelona for adven- Without any recognizable belief in a , ture, for the art and for the opportunity to or as he puts it “a moral structure to the Two theology students review “find herself.” At an art gallery both universe,” he shows his characters in pur- “The Dark Knight,” at americam- women become fascinated by Juan suit of meaning in the ephemeral. He finds agazine.org/connects.

32 America September 8, 2008