Allen's new film 'is not real life'

4:24pm Saturday 17th May 2008

Woody Allen has told how the larger-than-life situation in his new film of three characters becoming lovers would be too difficult for most people to survive in reality.

Allen's new film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, sees three characters, played by Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem, become romantically involved.

But speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, Allen joked that there were enough difficulties in just getting one person.

Allen was asked about the classic male fantasy of a menage a trois and whether he himself wanted to make that happen.

Allen replied: "It's hard enough to get one person", to laughter. "Two actually tends to make it more complicated..."

He continued: "The characters were able to handle the situation. In real life most people could not survive that kind of situation in any serious way, because it's too complicated and has too many emotional ramifications that would be difficult to surmount."

Allen said the idea worked in the film because it was a larger-than-life situation.

"In real life, most of us petty people could not handle living like that," he said. "It's hard enough to get a relationship that could work out with one person."

The film centres around two young American women who go on holiday to Barcelona.

Allen said he chose Barcelona because people from the city called him and said they would finance a film if he was interested in making one. He said if someone had called him from Rome, Venice or Stockholm he probably would have agreed just as readily.

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