Language Barriers

Woody Allen churns out another trifle, but at least there's pretty Spanish countryside.

by Shaun Brady

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Published: Aug 13, 2008

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Scarlett Johansson falls prey to the charms of her Latin lover (Javier Bardem). (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Woody Allen's 38th feature fits snugly into the "hard habit to break" phase of his career — films made not out of any particular passion or inspiration, but because making movies is what the man does. Over the past half-decade, the once-a-year appearance of those Windsor-fonted titles has introduced a series of modestly entertaining and forgettable trifles.

On the surface, Allen's late-career self-exile from Manhattan for production abroad, first in England and now in Spain, has alleviated the unrelenting awfulness that marked most of his late-'90s, early-aughts output. The fresh landscapes at least provided a new context for Allen's overfamiliar characters.

But in the context of a career that once could boast of the most agile intermarriage of observational comedy and European art-house cinema, this turn toward faceless genre programming is even more distressing than the listless comedies. A once-brilliant ear for pungent dialogue turned tin and out-of-touch is more understandable than a bored journeyman churning out mediocrities on vacation.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona turns from the fatalist thrillers of the Woodman's London period to a fatalist romcom full of a tourist's sense of Spanish passion. Allen seems to have gleaned his observations of Latin sensuality entirely from viewing Pedro Almodóvar films, porting over not just a chilly approximation of the Spanish filmmaker's overheated style but two of his actors, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. They both manage to find some depth in the stereotypical apasionados that they're asked to portray, more than can be said for the misanthropic mouthpieces that Allen finds in his two American leads.

Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson play Vicky and Cristina, two friends spending the summer in Spain — Vicky is the intellectual, conservative one; Cristina, the free spirit. Allen seems to see the ensuing contrasts and arguments between the two as constituting a "woman's picture," and the old misogyny charges will hardly be refuted by the way their every decision hinges on their relationship with Bardem's swaggering Casanova.

Bardem plays Juan Antonio, a painter who approaches the pair with the prospect of a quick flight to a nearby island and a night of "making love," an overture to which Cristina instantly responds while the engaged Vicky reluctantly tags along. Despite her willingness to be seduced, Cristina is sidelined by a recurrent ulcer, allowing Vicky and Juan Antonio a chance to make a deeper connection. The two wander the Spanish countryside, evoking earlier wanderings through Manhattan but without the same familiarity.

Afterward, Vicky retreats and Cristina moves in with Juan Antonio, becoming a threesome upon the return of his ex-wife, Maria Elena (Cruz). Cristina's wide-eyed presence curbs the violent passion between the two which, in an Almodóvar film, would lead to complicated passions but here ends in tepid make-out sessions. Meanwhile, Vicky continues to pine for Juan Antonio's exotic romanticism, especially when compared with her buttoned-down fiancé.

There's a hint of satire in the way that the naïve Americans fall under the spell of the sensual pleasures of sightseeing and the accepted stereotypes of the culture into which they barge. But Allen seems as guileless and halfheartedly interested as the characters, making it hard to separate the critic from the criticized.

There's also an opportunity for sexual farce in the complex relationships that the once-upon-a-time Woody would have seized upon. But Allen's pen long ago dried up when it comes to that wry observational wit, leaving the actors to shout thesis statements about the nature of love at one another. No matter their obvious intellectual deficiencies, Allen's characters never come up short in the speech-making department.

That's not to say that Vicky Cristina Barcelona is without its small pleasures. Bardem and Cruz have a great deal of fun playing out their tempestuous relationship, over which constantly hangs the alluring threat of poetic tragedy. Perhaps Allen should simply have gone all the way with the Almodóvar influence, handing the concept over to be taken, exquisite corpse-style, by someone still able to realize its potential.

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Written and directed by Woody Allen | An MGM release

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