This week-end we have a certain promise that cinemas will be extremely hot. There is no problem with the air conditioning system and there is no meteorological problem either, however, there is the premiere of the latest Woody Allen movie “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

Over the years, Woody Allen accustomed us with exquisite love stories, deep and giving food for thought.  Although “Cassandra’s Dream” hasn’t been such a hit, this time Woody Allen did his best, compensating for the cinematographic mistakes in the last productions. “Vicky Cristina” tackles the inexhaustible theme of love, however, it’s not the manifestation of love we see in our everyday life and definitely not the for ever and for always love that the most romantic dreamers of us crave for. It’s not even the on-off-on again in love stories like those in “Husbands and Wives,” “Annie Hall” or “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

You may refer to love in mathematical terms, however, what we’ve heard before about the subject is irrelevant to the present Allen’s gig. The romantics say that in love one and one is still one (love: 1+1=1); those closer to reality see one plus one equals love, however, the result is two (love: 1+1=2). This reeled-off it-takes-two-people-to-be-love thing is totally defied in “Vicky Cristina.” Going on with the math, it’s not even a love triangle that the movie depicts (love: 1+1+1=3). It’s more of a rectangle what we’re talking about!

Now that we’ve got your full attention, let’s proceed. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are two young Americans summering in Spain. Vicky is the no-nonsense, intellectual type, who is looking forward to completing her master’s thesis on Catalan identity. She is engaged to a decent, down-to-earth, wealthy guy (Chris Messina) and what she wants from a relationship is exactly what she is to get from him: stability, devotion (boring stuff like that). On the other hand, Cristina is an aspiring filmmaker, whose latest work dealt with the definition of love. Her soul is free, her inhibitions are loose (or missing), she is ready to embark on a passionate adventure.

And speaking of adventures…here comes Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a hot-blooded Spanish painter who charms the two over a bottle of wine and makes an appalling (for Vicky) and at the same time tempting (for Cristina) proposal: the two girls should spend a hot romantic week-end in the town of Oviedo with him. Though we might expect that Cristina will not wait for a second to land in his bed, she will actually be hindered from that by an unexpected food poisoning. But that doesn’t impend Juan Antonio from seducing Vicky. And then Cristina.

And just when the love triangle is crystal clear, his ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) enters the stage. Maria Elena has been his muse, she is equally crazy and brilliant, appearing to set flames (and fires) every time she opens her mouth. Their love was passionate without doubt, a passion that made her once stick a knife in his chest (or maybe that was just a story to depict the dimensions).

Without making any mistake and no matter how jaw-droppingly this may seem, we can add another character to this love story. Well, it’s the title city of Barcelona. The exquisiteness of the city, with its perfect Gaudi architecture, presented in a yellowish calm light, all these bring Barcelona to the dimension of another character involved in the entangled love story.

Although “Vicky Cristina” is a comedy, a dramedy at the most, it movie has its sad moments (and it’s probably depressing for the romantic). And despite the fact that at a first look, the movie seems like a male reverie, there are elements of real-life, like the novelty and excitement brought into a relationship by a threesome, or the pure entanglements produced by passion. (Un)Fortunately, this is real life.