VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA (2008)

I decided to make my trip to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona a sensual movie-going experience. My new graduate student schedule gives me free afternoons during the week so, knowing the theater would probably be mostly empty, I brought some wine in a thermos and some chocolate and settled into my plush seat, ready to be transported to Spain. From the first shot of a whimsical Gaudi building to the sprawling countryside around an artist’s villa, I fell in love with Spain. I want to eat dinner at midnight in Barcelona and sip wine in one of Oviedo’s ancient plazas. I want to experience passion with the enticing sound of guitars playing in the background.

This, to me, is what a sensual movie is all about – when the movie is over you should feel inspired. In this case, I so wanted to jump on the next plane to Spain or have a gorgeous Spaniard help put me in touch with my creative side. Most of all, you will want to leave this movie and find something to spark your passion. Passion and love and the blurred line between the two, are what this movie is all about.

Two beautiful young girls, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is the stoic and practical brunette and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is the free-spirited – some might say reckless – blonde bombshell. Their lives are shaken when a sexy and seductive artist named Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) boldly approaches them at dinner one night. He offers to take them to the town of Oviedo, where they will drink wine and make love. Why not – as Juan Antonio says, “life is short, life is dull, and life is full of pain – why not do something fun.”

Both girls are eventually enraptured with Juan Antonio – raising several questions about love. Can you love someone but not be in love with them? Is fleeting passion worth giving up love for? Can a passionate love ever be complete? Can only unfulfilled love be romantic?

Vicky Cristina Barcelona asks these big questions using such a sexy cast in such gorgeous locations that by the time the movie is over, the answers barely matter because you find you’ve gone and fallen passionately and sensually in love yourself with this movie. Enjoy the lovesick hangover this movie will leave you feeling. Maybe you’ll even let the bliss carry you all the way to Spain.