Anyone else get the impression that Javier Bardem's character Juan Antonio had no interest in anything but sex? If you didn't perceive that along the way, then it becomes more than evident when he seduces Vicky (Rebecca Hall) the final time, regardless of her conflicted feelings and potential collapse of her fledgling marriage. If anything, the movie's theme can be best summed up by the character of Cristina (Scarlett Johannson),who the fiery Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) pegs as possessing 'chronic dissatisfaction'. That struck a chord with this viewer, as I'm sure many people of both genders are struck with a semblance of chronic dissatisfaction in their lives or careers. In this picture, it appeared that the condition applied to just about every principal and ancillary character, except Juan Antonio of course, since he found ways to satisfy himself virtually every day of the week.

This was a different kind of role for Bardem, hard to reconcile against his relentless assassin turn in "No Country for Old Men". He was just so smooth, one could actually envy him. But it's Cruz who gets my vote as the fulcrum on which this story pivots, just catch her expression when she arrives with a pistol to take out Juan Antonio. Wow! Such brazen hatred in someone so lovely. I don't know if that was enough to earn her the Best Supporting Actress because she wasn't on screen that long, and not until the latter half of the picture, but for the amount of time you saw her, she presented an amazingly complex character.

But when it all came to an end, it didn't seem like there was anyone left better for the experience. Life is like that sometimes, so I guess loose ends have their place. The one thing I could have done without in the story was the droning narration by Christopher Evan Welch. I found it more distracting than helpful, tending to lower one's expectations for something exciting to happen. What I would have liked was something larger written for Juan Antonio's father Julio (Josep Maria Domènech). He looked like a character waiting to happen.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is among the cream of the Woody Allen crop, in the midst of Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters and Match Point. It may even be a wiser film than any of them. What Woody has done throughout his film career is seek the answers to his own life questions in any number of ways. Some later films contradict the philosophical implications of previous ones. Some reaffirm them. His foremost theme has always been the complications of love and sex, and this ultimately genre-less film that I suppose could be considered a romantic seriocomedy may be his magnum opus of his sexual and romantic revelations.

Vicky, played by Rebecca Hall, and Cristina, by Scarlet Johansson, go to Barcelona for the summer, settling with Vicky's distant relative (Patricia Clarkson) and her husband. A Narrator, present all through the film, the particular matter-of-fact likes of which Allen has never before used, illustrates the two friends: Vicky is no-nonsense and conservative in her attitude toward love and commitment, engaged to the dependable but less than passionate yuppie. She is in Barcelona getting her masters, and is deeply stirred by Spanish guitar. Cristina, in contrast, is impulsive and irresolute of what she wants in life. She is just out of a relationship and wants to forget about her experience making a short film about Love, perhaps a nod to Woody's own admitted negative reflections on his previous works.

At an art exhibition, these two symbolically contrasting women observe a notorious painter, played with suavity and charisma by Javier Bardem. Cristina is immediately fascinated with him, and grows captivated when she and Vicky learn that he has undergone a violent relationship with his ex-wife. Later, the girls spot him in a restaurant, where he stoically approaches their table and unexpectedly invites them to go along with him to Oviedo, where they will tour, wine, dine and, with any luck, make love. Straight away Cristina consents, Vicky refuses, but Vicky is is ultimately persuaded and the twosome go with the self- designed artistic and drifting romantic on a small private plane through a rainstorm.

What follows is a free-flowing rectangle of romance with any combination of Bardem, Vicky, Cristina, and Bardem's unmanageably volatile ex-wife Penelope Cruz, who deserves an Oscar nomination for her work here. There are many ways in which the two American women change for the better and change not at all. One facet of the story is a clash of conventional American and liberated European cultures. Another is spiritual freedom, signified by Vicky's conventional reticence and thus conflicted feelings that she may be missing out on so much, and Cristina's mutability. A lesser title for the movie but an apt one nonetheless could have been Why Not?

Woody is expressing through his characters his urge to be free of all psychological and emotional restrictions. In any case, characters as open as Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem's seem to need similarly adaptable significant others. I find it interesting that Louise Lasser, Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow, Woody's women, all brought out their inner nebbishes due to intimate involvement with him, as in his eagerness to lift a lover's state of mind, he ends up, sooner or later, virtually turning his woman roughly into a female version of himself. Johansson and Hall's summer in Spain, if anything, releases them from the sludge of mediocrity, particularly that which results from fear and common custom.

By saying all that, I have not even come close to giving anything away. The way things turn out would hardly make sense to characters like Vicky, or her fiancé, and that is what makes it a natural flow from the heart. Woody Allen's brilliantly written, guilelessly directed and convincingly acted Spanish debut-and-swan song is not a comedy for the same reasons as nearly every other comedy Woody has made. It is a comedy essentially because of the culture clash. The film depends on our reactions to things that really are not inherently funny except to unaccustomed eyes. Likewise, the bewildered Americans are just as funny from the other side of the gamut. Without any doubt in my mind, this is not only Woody Allen's best film in years, but one of his very best of his entire 42-film, 42-year career as a writer-director of consistently good films.

Though definitely not for all tastes, depending on whether you relate to the characters and the story. Woody Allen has done better than Vicky Cristina Barcelona, especially Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanours, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters and Husbands and Wives, but it is one of his better films in the past 15 years(very hit-and-miss at this point) along with Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine. Vicky Cristina Barcelona isn't perfect, it has a very abrupt ending but most problematic was the narration, which was completely pointless and it does feel patronising when you're been told what's happening like little schoolchildren- that's how it was delivered anyway- when it is being shown very clearly. There is no personal bias against narration, providing they move the story forward, but not when it adds nothing and just succeeds in over-explaining things like it does here. However, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is beautifully filmed and the locations are just gorgeous, making you wish you were there in Barcelona. The music score is both relaxing and infectious, and Allen's direction is accomplished. The film is brilliantly written narration aside, the dialogue is witty and thoughtful, by all means it doesn't break new ground but it still has a lot to say and does so in an entertaining and honest way. The story is a slow-burner but the way the characters interact and the way the relationships develop make it a largely compelling one at the same time, complex they are too and while the situations are fairly sensitive in the first place they are relatable as well. The characters are stereotypical(but mostly not that crudely, though judging from what I've read people will disagree with that) and typically neurotic but as is also typical of Allen they are very real as well. The acting is never less than very good, Patricia Clarkson standing out in support but the four leads dominate and all four impress. Penelope Cruz steals the show, she's rarely been lovelier and she always has been a beautiful woman, she is very funny and is fully immersed into the drama. Her scenes with Javier Bardem are among the film's best scenes. Bardem is effortlessly sexy that you completely understand the attraction, and he does very well at being sympathetic and seductive. Rebecca Hall plays a conflicted character and somehow succeeds in making her likable, her accent is fine. Scarlett Johansson is not as good as the other three, having to play the character that we in a way relate to the least but she is very sultry and compassionate and doesn't look uncomfortable at all. In conclusion, not among Allen's best films but very impressive stuff. 8/10 Bethany Cox