Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Rebecca Hall: Vicky

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Vicky : So, uh, tell me why, why won't your father publish his poems?

  Juan Antonio : Well, because, ungh, he hates the world and that's his way of getting back at them, to create beautiful works and then to deny them to the public, which I think it's...

  Vicky : My god.

  Juan Antonio : Hmmm.

  Vicky : Oh, what makes him so angry toward the human race?

  Juan Antonio : Because after thousands of years of civilization they still haven't learned to love.

• Juan Antonio : American?

  Cristina : I'm Cristina, and this is my friend Vicky.

  Juan Antonio : What color are your eyes?

  Cristina : Uh, they're blue.

  Juan Antonio : Well, I'd like to invite you both to come with me to Oviedo.

  Vicky : To come where?

  Juan Antonio : To Oviedo. For the weekend. We leave in one hour.

  Cristina : What- Where is Oviedo?

  Juan Antonio : A very short flight.

  Vicky : By plane?

  Juan Antonio : Mmm-hmm.

  Cristina : What's in Oviedo?

  Juan Antonio : I go to see a sculpture, that is very inspiring to me. A very beautiful sculpture. You will love it.

  Vicky : Oh, right. you're asking us to fly to Oviedo and back.

  Juan Antonio : Mmmm. No, we'll spend the weekend. I mean, I'll show you around the city, and we'll eat well. We'll drink good wine. We'll make love.

  Vicky : Yeah, who exactly is going to make love?

  Juan Antonio : Hopefully, the three of us.

• Juan Antonio : Well, now that the day's almost over, is it reasonable of me to ask you if you'll both join me in my room?

  Vicky : Oh, come on, I thought we'd settled that.

  Cristina : Vicky's just trying to say that she's engaged to be married, that's all.

  Juan Antonio : Great. Then these are her last days of freedom.

  Vicky : No. Look, I'm not free. I'm committed. You know what my theory is? And when I drink, I get brutally frank. I think that you're still hurting from the failure of your marriage to Maria Elena, and you're trying to lose yourself in empty sex.

  Juan Antonio : Empty sex? Do you have such a low opinion of yourself?

• [first lines] 

  Narrator : Vicky and Cristina decided to spend the summer in Barcelona. Vicky was completing her master's in Catalan Identity, which she had become interested in through her great affection for the architecture of Gaudí. Cristina, who spent the last six months writing, directing, and acting in a 12-minute film which she then hated, had just broken up with yet another boyfriend and longed for a change of scenery. Everything fell into place when a distant relative of Vicky's family who lived in Barcelona offered to put both girls up for July and August. The two best friends had been close since college and shared the same tastes and opinions on most matters, yet when it came to the subject of love, it would be hard to find two more dissimilar viewpoints. Vicky had no tolerance for pain and no lust for combat. She was grounded and realistic. Her requirements in a man were seriousness and stability. She had become engaged to Doug because he was decent and successful and understood the beauty of commitment.

  Vicky : [while talking on her cellphone to Doug]  Yeah, I miss you, too.

  Narrator : Cristina, on the other hand, expected something very different out of love. She had reluctantly accepted suffering as an inevitable component of deep passion, and was resigned to putting her feelings at risk. If you asked her what it was she was gambling her emotions on to win, she would not have been able to say. She knew what she didn't want, however, and that was exactly what Vicky valued above all else.

• Cristina : [Looking at a sculpture of Jesus]  Are you very religious?

  Juan Antonio : No, no, no, no, I'm not. The trick is to enjoy life, accepting it has no meaning whatsoever.

  Cristina : No meaning? You don't think that authentic love gives life meaning?

  Juan Antonio : Yes, but love is so transient. Isn't it? I was in love with a most incredible woman... and then in the end...

  Vicky : Yes?

  Juan Antonio : She put a knife into me.

  Cristina : My God, that's terrible!

  Vicky : Well, maybe you did something to deserve it.

• Vicky : Oh, God, look, I wouldn't call our reluctance to leap at your sexual offer being over-analytical. If you would care to join us for some recognized form of social interaction, like a drink, then we'd be fine, but otherwise, I think you should try, you know, offering to some other table.

  Juan Antonio : Mm-hm. What offended you about the offer? Surely not that I find you both beautiful and desirable.

  Vicky : Offended me, no. It's very amusing, galling, to be honest,

• Judy : Vicky... you're, you're getting your master's in something within...

  Vicky : Yeah, my master's in, uh, Catalan identity.

  Judy : Ah well.

  Mark : What do you plan on doing with that?

  Vicky : Oh... God, I don't know, uh, maybe teaching, maybe curating.

  Judy : Well... you don't have to do something, you know. But she's marrying this wonderful man in the fall and all of her conflicts will be resolved when he makes her pregnant.

• Cristina : Oh my God, this guy is so interesting.

  Vicky : Interesting? Are you kidding? What's so interesting? He wants to get us both into bed. You know, but, he'll settle for either and, in this case, you.

• Cristina : Vicky, I'm a big girl, okay. If I want to sleep with him, I will. If not, I won't.

  Vicky : Christina, he's a total stranger. This is impulsive, even for you. And, if I heard right, he was violent with his wife!

  Cristina : Well, at least he's not one of those factory-made zombies.

• Cristina : You got to admire his no bull shit approach.

  Vicky : What are you talking about? It's all bull shit!

• Vicky : You said you were looking at my face. Why?

  Juan Antonio : Why were you looking at mine?

  Vicky : Was I?

  Juan Antonio : You probably saw my tears.

  Vicky : Yeah. I'm a little out of control.

  Juan Antonio : I was looking at your face because I find it very beautiful.

  Vicky : You do?

  Juan Antonio : Of course, I do. Of course, I do. And you know I do.

  [kiss] 

• Vicky : You're using me to rewrite your own history.

• Juan Antonio : Judy Nash says you are having an unhappy life.

  Vicky : Well, she's talking about herself.

  Juan Antonio : Maybe you will understand more about your own feelings once we've made love.

  Vicky : Yeah or less.

• Juan Antonio : You also admire Spanish guitar, I hear?

  Vicky : Yes! Yes, I love the guitar.

  Juan Antonio : Would you like to go to hear some wonderful guitar tonight?

  Vicky : Tonight? Well, it's a little late and, you know, I'm a little wobbly from the wine.

  Juan Antonio : You said you could hold your alcohol? Besides, we leave tomorrow.

  Vicky : Okay, sure.

• Juan Antonio : We never had a chance to say a proper goodbye.

  Vicky : Oh, well, you could have called me.

  Juan Antonio : I - yeah - I debated it. But, I didn't think there was much point.

  Vicky : Yeah, but, you never phoned. Not to say - anything. I mean, "thank you, it was fun." You don't make love to someone and then never call them unless you were greatly disappointed.

  Juan Antonio : Quite the opposite. But, you have plans to marry and I thought it best to stop anything before it lead to a bad situation for everyone.

  Vicky : Yeah, well, I'm only saying that we made love and you seemed to drop off the face of the earth. I mean, I realize these things don't mean much to you.

  Juan Antonio : To pursue matters would have only caused you anxiety and for me a disappointment.

• Vicky : Let's not get into one of those turgid, categorical, imperative arguments.

• Cristina : This would be a great way to get to know him.

  Vicky : No! It's not! I'm not going to Oviedo with this - with this charmingly candid wife-beater. You find his aggressiveness attractive; but, I don't.

• Vicky : It was a passing thing. Now, it's over.