Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Woody Allen.
Plot[]
College friends Vicky and Cristina visit Barcelona for the summer, staying with Vicky's distant relative Judy and her husband Mark. While the two are great friends, Vicky is practical and traditional in her approach to love and commitment and is engaged to the reliable Doug, whereas Cristina imagines herself to be a nonconformist, spontaneous but unsure of what she wants from life or love.
At an art exhibition, Cristina is intrigued by artist Juan Antonio, who Judy says has suffered a violent relationship with his ex-wife. Later, he brazenly approaches Vicky and Cristina to invite them to join him right away for the weekend in the city of Oviedo, traveling there in a small plane he flies himself, for sightseeing, fine dining and drinking, and hopefully, having sex with both young women. Cristina is won over by the offer almost at once, but Vicky is unimpressed and reluctant; she, however, eventually decides to accompany her friend anyway, mainly to watch over her. They take a plane ride that night but go through a storm and hit turbulence.
At the end of their first day, Vicky refuses to join Juan Antonio in his hotel room, citing her fidelity to Doug and goes to bed, but Cristina accepts his invitation immediately. Right before they want to hook up, Cristina suddenly falls ill with digestive complaints, and is put to bed with food poisoning. Vicky and Juan Antonio spend the weekend together alone while they wait for Cristina to recover. Vicky gradually changes her opinion of Juan Antonio as he tells her about his tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife, María Elena. Vicky accompanies him to visit his father, an old poet, and then becomes deeply moved by a Spanish guitar performance later that evening. She finally consents to Juan Antonio's advances as they walk through a grove of trees in the dark. The next day, with Cristina feeling better, the three of them fly back to Barcelona.
Feeling guilty, Vicky does not mention the incident to Cristina (who keeps ranting how upset she was for getting sick and ruining the trip), and the two begin to grow apart. Vicky throws herself into her studies while Cristina and Juan Antonio take up a relationship. Cristina then moves in with Juan Antonio and begins to discover more about his past. After learning that María Elena attempted to kill herself, Juan Antonio takes her to his home, where Cristina already lives. After some defiance, the two women grow fond of each other. Cristina realizes that the ex-spouses are still in love, and María Elena suggests that Cristina may be the element that can give balance and stability to their relationship. All three become romantically involved with one another.
In the meantime, Vicky is joined in Spain by an enthusiastic Doug and the two get married. Vicky becomes secretly jealous after Cristina describes her new life with Juan Antonio, and later realizes she is unsatisfied in her married life with Doug and is still attracted to Juan Antonio. Learning that Judy is similarly unhappy in her marriage, she confides to her, and Judy, who sees her younger self in Vicky, decides to bring Juan Antonio and Vicky together. Meanwhile, Cristina becomes restless and at some point decides to leave Juan Antonio and María Elena to do some traveling; without her, their relationship quickly falls apart again.
As the summer winds to a close, Judy arranges for Juan Antonio and Vicky to meet at a party. Juan Antonio begs Vicky to meet him again privately before leaving Spain, which she finally accepts, lying to Doug in the process. At his home, Juan Antonio seduces and wins Vicky over again, but they are interrupted by María Elena who bursts in with a gun, firing wildly as Juan Antonio tries to calm her. Vicky gets shot in the hand in the process, and leaves, shouting they are insane and she could never live like this. She confesses the entire story to Cristina, who never realized how Vicky felt about Juan Antonio, and wishes she could have helped her. Doug, Vicky and Cristina return to the United States. Doug never learns what happened; Vicky goes back to her married life; and Cristina is back where she started, still unsure of what she wants from life or love.
Cast[]
- Javier Bardem as Juan Antonio Gonzalo
- Penélope Cruz as María Elena
- Scarlett Johansson as Cristina[1] - December 12th
- Rebecca Hall as Vicky
- Patricia Clarkson as Judy Nash
- Kevin Dunn as Mark Nash
- Chris Messina as Doug
Videos[]
To be added
- ↑ December 12th