English
“Walking around New York is like walking through a large-scale Hollywood set” is a comparison well known in the history of world tourism. Obviously, Barcelona is not characterized as a city in this way but because of other no less special reasons: sun, sand, sangria and paella… Most people known of the Sagrada Familia, the parties in Gracia and even Joan Clos dancing to the rhythm of Carlinhos Brown.
The truth is that this city has more often played a secondary than central character. But if you’re interested in finding the settings that you’ve seen on the big screen, we will name a few of the movies that were shot inBarcelona. They capture a bit of the city but not the whole.
The Perfum by Tom Tykwer, 2006
Although this film is set in eighteenth-centuryParis, it was shot between Figueres, Besalú (Costa Brava) and Barcelona. The director, Tom Tykwer, chose to shoot it between Girona and Barcelona because these are places that “have better preserved the essence of the architecture” of the time. So, in the Gothic quarter they set up a market with tons of authentic fish that would have been worthy of the time period before sewers. Another part was set in the Laberint d´Horta and others, in the Poble Espanyol, where they filmed the famous final scene.
REC by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, 2007
This film was shot almost entirely in the same block of buildings in the Rambla Catalunya (no. 34). Of course, they could also have been done in my town and no one would have noticed, but I guess they came for logistics best done inBarcelona.
The Machinist
This is a very dark movie, with only few scenes shot in the light of day and where it is not clear exactly which locations were used. Still, in it one recognizes a very clean-looking Tibidabo amusement park (one of the symbols of the city) and also locations in El Prat de Llobregat and Sant Adrià del Besòs, two peripheral cities of Barcelona with little cinematic fame, which likely is what the director was looking for.
Finally: Vicky Cristina Barcelona by Woody Allen, 2008
Just a minute! I know what you’re thinking: you said we were going to talk about films shot in Barcelona that don’t seem to be, but this one was obviously shot in Barcelona and even has the city’s name in the title. Well it´s true; it was shot on multiple locations in Barcelona. What strikes me in this film – for which it has received both criticism and praise – is the fact that I do not know the Barcelona of the great Woody Allen (whom I respect and admire very much). Any tourists hoping to find a city like the one in his film should be aware that it is different. The houses do not have huge interior patios and people don’t carry on in such a wealthy manner for the most part. And believe me, there are a lot more cars in this city.
