Among stale Hollywood romances like I.Q., SPEECHLESS, and LOVE AFFAIR, Whit Stillman's BARCELONA is the real McCoy, a gossamer blend of chagrin d'amour, musical beds, and translation errors in the language of love.
In Spain during the last years of the Cold War, Ted (Taylor Nichols), an American salesman, reluctantly plays host to his cousin, naval officer Fred (Christopher Eigeman). Bumming money or embroidering stories about Ted's sexual proclivities, Fred is a tactless but oddly charming loose cannon, and
the two become social successes among the young women who work as hostesses for the Spanish Trade Fair. While Ted pursues Montserrat (Tushka Bergen), Fred sleeps with Marta (Mira Sorvino), a pretty but heedless party girl; meanwhile, a rising turmoil of anti-American sentiment threatens their
idyll.
Writer-director Stillman (METROPOLITAN) showcases scenic Barcelona as a moonlit love-field where courtship is as likely to be interrupted by a USO bombing as by a lover's betrayal. Political innocents abroad, the cousins also lack the Spaniards' nonchalance in affairs of the heart; despite Fred's
obnoxiousness and Ted's uptight theorizing, their genuine guilelessness never fails to shine through. BARCELONA represents a cinematic advance over the tighter but visually drab METROPOLITAN, but Stillman sacrifices pacing here: he has a lot to say and doesn't always have the editorial flair to
nail down his sentiments as neatly as he might. leave a comment
