(2008; English, Spanish) Girlfriends since college, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Christina (Scarlett Johansson) go to Barcelona, Spain, to spend two months with Vicky's family's friends, Mark (Kevin Dunn) and Judy (Patricia Clarkson) Nash, an older couple with a grand home in the Catalonian city. Both young women, drawn to the art of Gaudi and Miró, share similar interests, though not in their preferences for romance.

Certain of what she wants - the security of commitment - tall and brunet Vicky, doing research to complete her master's degree in Catalonian identity (though she speaks limited Spanish), is engaged to Doug (Chris Messina), a rising businessman in the corporate world of New York City. Blonde and buxom Christina, on the other hand, who has an interest in film and photography (having finished a twelve-minute film on the theme of love), is at loose ends, only knowing what she doesn't want (what she's already had); she's in search of an elusive something, believing real romance must involve suffering and tragedy.

At a restaurant following her noticing him earlier during an art exhibit, supremely self-confident Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a painter with a scandalous past (his ex-wife stabbed him), audaciously comes over to ask Christina if she and her friend would care to join him for a weekend in Oviedo, his home town, for a few days of sightseeing, wine drinking, and lovemaking. Vicky, appalled by his blunt proposal, nonetheless reluctantly goes along to accompany Christina, who is excited by the possibilities.

After Vicky dismisses Juan's offer of a threesome for the night, Christina goes to his room but then gets violently ill from too much wine, inflaming a stomach ulcer. While Christina must remain in bed to recuperate, Juan escorts Vicky about, introducing her to his poet father and showing her the city's famous religious sculpture, though he says he's an atheist who doesn't believe in anything more than the moment. Following more wine and their listening to a Spanish guitar performance, Vicky succumbs to Juan's feral charms.

Back in Barcelona, Juan practices his art of love on Christina, who agrees to move in with him. Meanwhile, Doug suggests that he and Vicky get married in Barcelona, though she initially hesitates to embrace his idea with enthusiasm.

Into the picture steps Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), Juan's voluptuous, volatile former spouse, who after attempting suicide needs a safe place to stay. Living in the same household, Juan (who insists on his ex-wife's speaking English in front of his lover), Maria Elena (believing only incomplete love can be richly romantic), and Christina (the missing element to the Spanish couple's earlier relationship) develop a balanced, buoyant ménage à trois. An artist in her own right (from whom Juan borrowed ideas for his own paintings), Maria Elena teaches Christina the secrets of taking great pictures and developing them in a darkroom.

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable with her festering desire for Juan, Vicky discovers that Judy and Mark's relationship isn't all that it seems on the surface; Judy urges Vicky to take advantage of the moment when Juan is once again available.

Director/writer Woody Allen allows the actors and the action to express in body language - along with Christopher Evan Welch's narration - rather than jokes the complicated comedy of knowing what you can have from love and when you can have it.

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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