| RATING: | 60% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
What is Love?
Although this movie was obviously not just an excuse to take a cast and crew on a working holiday to Spain, it still does not deliver the emotional goods it should.
The film essentially asks the age old question: What is Love? It does this through the tale of two confused and emotionally-repressed White women: The product of the Puritan materialism of the United States. They find themselves opening up sexually and emotionally in their respective relationships with a charismatic artist, yet neither really knows what they want from life; while having a good idea of what they do not want.
This lack of spontaneity on their part is the inevitable consequence of fearfully-rationalizing their emotions away, rather than having the moral courage to actually feel them. In particular, they both worry more about what others think about them than what they think about themselves.
This movie criticizes the way they live their lives, yet proffers nothing in its place as a suitable alternative. Instead, it takes the easy way out of claiming that Love actually cannot be defined. If so, then what is all the fuss about and why so much Sturm and Drang in the film’s plot and premise?
Director Woody Allen manages to avoid the worst excesses of his own trademark emotional self-indulgence, but not enough to make this the great work it regularly hints at being.
As a compensation, the actors look as good as the scenery, the choice of music is toe tapping, the cinematography lush and Antonio Gaudí lovers will be amused by many of the locations. Allen gets insightful and adept performances from his actresses and they seem quite comfortable being unaffectedly-feminine for the gaze of his camera. Scarlett JOHANSSON is improving and becoming quite the muse for the aging director. Penélope CRUZ is also fine as the madly jealous ex-wife – with a loaded revolver. A reasonable Allen film, for a change, but he still has not really grown as an artist nor grown up as a man.
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