Apart from the relational mischief (which is a quagmire in more ways than one), Vicky Cristina Barcelona stands as a beautiful love letter to Spain. The palette is composed of warm hues of yellow and red and orange, the Mediterranean countryside is lush and inviting, matters of art and music and love are discussed on every corner, and everyone is drinking wine, all the time. The cinematography, production design, art direction, and costume design were all handled by Spaniards, and the score is filled with Spanish guitar and other native tunes, all of which lend the film a tangible authenticity.

As a creative and romantic at heart, it was difficult to pull myself away from the seductive web that the film wove around me. You can almost feel the warm Mediterranean breeze. You can almost taste the wine upon your tongue. Oh to be in Spain where the rat race is not as ratty and rampant materialism is not as rampant, where life moves at a slower pace, and where stress is an exception rather than the rule. Granted, there are pros and cons to all walks of life, American and European, but when it comes to anxiety and worry and tension, we workaholics have them beat, hands down. Allen masterfully taps into the languid flow of Spanish life and makes you desperately want to buy a one-way ticket to Barcelona.

When it comes to the story, however, Vicky Cristina Barcelona becomes a much less focused affair. Vicky is ostentatiously portrayed as prudish and stuffy, and it is apparent at the outset that Juan will eventually break down her defenses. Marrying soon after her sensual one-night tryst, she fails to get Juan out of her head and constantly wonders if she should “follow her heart.” An older confidant, Judy (Patricia Clarkson), is locked within a loveless marriage herself, foreshadowing Vicky’s eventual fate. Doug, Vicky’s husband, is staid, predictable, and fully American, everything Juan Antonio is not. Cristina, in the meantime, falls in love with Juan and he with her, until the passionate artist’s equally passionate ex-wife, Maria Elena (played with fire and brimstone by Penélope Cruz), enters the picture, creating a tense love triangle that eventually gives way to a sultry ménage à trois.

Does it sound complicated? It is, and that is one aspect of love that, at least, Allen gets right. But beyond that, what exactly is he saying here? On the one hand, a common mantra is that “once love is fulfilled, it’s never romantic again,” so true romance can only be found in unrequited passion between two people who can never be together (i.e., Vicky and Juan).