Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) is such a poor movie that it demands we consider or reconsider whether a voice-over narration can ruin a movie. It pains me to have to say it—but obviously someone as knowledgeable as Woody Allen does not remember it—but whereas novels largely tell, movies largely show. It is the unique power of movies that they are not black squiggles on white paper but rather seemingly real characters speaking and moving, very much like real life. If writers and directors such as Allen want to destroy this crucial feature of film, they should have good reason. There are a couple of good reasons, but they don’t apply to Vicky Cristina Barcelona. One of the best reasons for a narrator is that film has difficulty showing us the internal thoughts of a character, and a narrator can supply them. For example, in a P. D. James detective mystery I watched last week, Inspector Dalgleish’s thoughts were sometimes voiced over the action, and this, albeit startling, helped me keep track of a very complex plot. But in VCB, the narration simply tells the story from what fiction theorists call an omniscient point of view.
Another reason to have a voice-over narration is for commentary on the action, whether that is satirical, critical, or whatever. This can manifest the director’s or writer’s opinion when the action is ambiguous. But in VCB, the narrator is simply a crutch to move the action along.
If film makers insist on going against commonsense and employing a voice to narrate the story, the narration should at least not duplicate the action. But in VCB, the narration is sometimes superfluous. When Cristina goes into Juan Antonio’s charming artist’s house with its paintings everywhere, the narrator tells us that Juan Antonio’s house was charming and that Cristina thrilled to the wild colours on all the canvases. You might say this gives us a glimpse into Cristina, but by this time in the movie we know she loves art of all kinds, motion pictures, photographs, even architecture. Again, when Juan Antonio gets a late night call from his suicidal wife, he rushes out of the house and into his car, and the narrator tells us “Juan Antonio hurried out in the dead of night.” What do normally intelligent, sensitive viewers feel confronted with this superfluous narration? Maybe they are insulted to be told a guy is hurrying out in the night when they see a guy hurrying out in the night. Maybe they are distanced from the emotion of the supposedly serious situation. Just when they should be sensing Juan Antonio’s panic and worrying about his relationship with Cristina whom he left behind in bed, a voice booms from above to tell us that Juan is rushing and that all the black we see on screen is night.
The narrator’s tone of voice further distances us from the movie. The tone is difficult to describe. It is patronizing, trying to make the story interesting for us. It is also disrespectful of the characters, sounding remote and untouched by any pain and confusion they are suffering.
Although this heavy-handed narration pretty much destroys the movie, there are a few good points if you can make it through the film. Penelope Cruz, as the unstable ex-wife, is excellent. Not coincidentally, she is one of the few characters who does not sound like Woody Allen. When Patricia Clarkson, for example, talks about her longing to break out of her respectable marriage, she sounds like we’ve heard Woody so many times before, but when Penelope Cruz loses her temper, she sounds like the character she is. To her credit, Rebecca Hall, one of my favourite actresses (Starters for 10; The Prestige), handles with aplomb the sort-of intellectual lines that Woody might normally deliver. That said, the characters in the movie are not particularly unique or interesting—except maybe Cristina: She did not know what she wanted, only what she did not want. This is a fascinating insight for me, and a cautionary note that there are immature people like her out there screwing up lives, including their own. Trying valiantly to pull this movie along is a peppy and interesting sound track, the highlight of the movie.