“Vicki Cristina Barcelona,” 27 March 2009 (2008), DVD. Woody Allen wrote and directed this musing on the difficulties of love and sex (what else?) among the upper-middle classes (business and artistic—who else?) in the US and Spain. Two young American women Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johannson go to Barcelona, one to study Catalan culture (which, except for Gaudi and Miro visuals is almost entirely lacking, and the work is in Spanish and English, not Catalan), the other to ‘find herself’. They’re very different, one formal and predictable in life and love, the other wild and adventurous. They meet and both have flings with an artist, brilliantly played by Javier Bardem. Christina, who becomes the new live-in also has to cope with the arrival and reentry of ex-wife Penelope Cruz (Oscar-winning spectacular and gorgeous in this wild and crazy, wonderful role). Love flows. in this complex ménage a trios and Christina develops as a secure artist in her own right until she has to head out on her own, signaling the inevitable collapse of Bardem and Cruz’s connection. She is, after all, the gentle cipher, the child they never had, that helps them recouple. Vicki’s life is sadder and more conventional and is played well for that, as is that of the couple they stay with in Barcelona. All real issues and somewhat stressful, but the language is so Allen that even the pacing emulates his neurotic, staccato delivery, distant, complex, and hyper-intellectual. I longed for more of the Catalan, not the Spanish. Also,. Barcelona is way too clean. Both B and I found the narrator heavy-handed and unnecessary. This was a good if not a great movie