La Barcelona postolímpica en el cine

This article analyses through a selection of films how cinema has portrayed post-Olympic Barcelona. We distinguish two basic ways of representing the Catalan capital: the first shows an idealized and touristic Barcelona, thus contributing, more or less voluntarily, to praise and boost both the Barcelona model of urban renewal and the Barcelona brand; the second provides a more critical view of post-olympic Barcelona, focusing on some of its problems (urban speculation, gentrification, social inequalities, exclusion and exploitation of immigrants) and portraying the existence of those who live on the fringes of the tourist city. Starting from this distinction, we analyse Todo sobre mi madre (1999) by Pedro Almodovar, L'auberge espagnole (2002) by Cedric Klapisch and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) by Woody Allen to illustrate the first way of representing the city, and En construccion (2001) by Jose Luis Guerin y Biutiful (2010) by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu to exemplify the second