Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Review

"Sometimes love makes all the sense in the world, sometimes it makes no sense at all." writes poet Denise Duhamel. These are the words that came to my mind when I watched Woody Allen's genre-defying rom-com 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' (2008), a movie that explores the many possibilities of romantic love and leaves you with more giddy than with a sense of catharsis. Best friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) come to Barcelona for a summer vacation and get romantically involved with a Bohemian painter couple, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) and Marie Elena (Penelope Cruz in an Oscar winning performance). While Allen's insanely good-looking cast find themselves embroiled in every wacky, crazy, twisted love situation imaginable (or not, depends on how far your imagination goes in this matter), the film works in its being completely free of judgement. What left me dissatisfied, however was the ending. Is Woody Allen trying to say that love is a vacation that people take from the usual course of their lives? Or that it is a superficial gunshot wound that eventually heals? Or is VCB supposed to be a cautionary tale to warn us against falling in love with gorgeous people with psychotic ex'es? Or are we just supposed to sit back and contemplate the fickle nature of romantic love? Although I wish Mr. Allen supplied a few more answers, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. For those who haven't watched VCB already, recommended for a rainy day when you need a seriously high dose of eye candy. 

Vicky Cristina Barcelona trailer