Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Movie Review

Cristina: I'll go to your room, but you'll have to seduce me.

I'm not a fan of Woody Allen (the nerdy chattery geek who once said, "Why is it that'happiness sounds like 'a penis')". I think I don't like Woody because he represents a different kind of man - the emasculated man. Turns out even weaklings can have a healthy, and as it turns out, MANLY sex drive (or is it sexual fantasy life).

I have to admit, also, that I have recently had a shift in my attitude towards wanting to pawn off homosexual sex on the fairer sex. Apparently a study has confirmed that women are turned on (more or less) by just about everything.

I know some women reading this will find that bit of information about as charming as the proposition made by (Don) Juan Antonio Gonzalo (well played Javier Bardem)who invites two American tourists to his villa for a threesome.

The flick is a lot deeper and more interesting than it pretends to be. While Penelope and Scarlett are memorable, Rebecca Hall's performance as Vicky will probably resonate with many.


Cristina: [Looking at a sculpture of Jesus] Are you very religious?
Juan Antonio: No, no, no, no, I'm not. The trick is to enjoy life, accepting it has no meaning whatsoever.
Cristina: No meaning? You don't think that authentic love gives life meaning?
Juan Antonio: Yes, but love is so transient. Isn't it? I was in love with a most incredible woman... and then in the end...
Vicky: Yes?
Juan Antonio: She put a knife into me.
Cristina: My God, that's terrible!
Vicky: Well, maybe you did something to deserve it.

I tend to agree that love is transient. In fact, it occurred to me this morning the kernel of wisdom that this movie has. Skip the next paragraph if you want to go watch the movie and find out for yourself.

The thing is, love changes. I think people implicitly believe that when they love, love stays the same, because people on the surface appear to be the same. But they aren't. Are you? And so what makes love so difficult is that even two people meant for each other change, and so does their love for each other. It fluctuates like a maturing wine, or a worsening vinegar. And it takes vigilance, and something else, spice, caution, gardening, to keep love growing, flourishing, tasty.

There is meaning wherever we choose to see it, and sometimes, it sneaks up on us.
At the end of Woody's flick I couldn't help but feel he'd reversed Vicky's attitude with Cristina's - they arrive back at the airport wanting the opposite of what they had wanted when they first arrived (and ironically, each wants the opposite of what the other wants).
It makes one wonder whether our wants, and our moods, ought to be listened to...like listening to the wind and allowing it to blow us far and wide, over fallow and foul fields. I believe the magic trick is to let go a little (sometimes a lot), but part of the beauty and power love is discernment, and discipline. Loyalty is what we give when we find someone worth being with, and we find we're worth being that someone too.

Juan Antonio: We are meant for each other and not meant for each other. It's a contradiction.