Auberge espagnole, L' (2002)

Part One Of The Trilogy: The Spanish Apartment
Ah, yes, why can't all our college experiences be this cool? Instead of rooming with a control freak-esque local girl in a run-down flat in a northeastern college town, wouldn't it have been great if I'd lived with a bunch of cool people in Spain? Oh, well.

I find it hard to describe what this movie is about, so I'll leave it to others who have no doubt done a fine job of detailing its quirky, thin-yet-rich plot. To say it depicts the inner landscape of a young Frenchman's evolving personality as it concerns itself with interaction among co-habiting European students from all corners of the continent doesn't do it justice or explain much at all. I'll only say I enjoyed the fast-moving L'Auberge Espagnole and would recommend it to anyone interested in seeing a stylish young cast clash and bond under the wide blue skies of Barcelona and amid the scenery of ultra-modern twenty-first-century Europe.

Merely by packing seven good-looking multinational young people into a small Spanish apartment you'd have a watchable tale right there, but Cedric Klapisch goes much farther by working in subplots about an adulterous affair, long-distance relationships, ethnic stereotyping, and the debt owed to one's personal past. "European Pudding" has winsome performances, funny moments---Wendy's brother taking a bullet for her by jumping into bed with the half-naked American troubadour was completely hilarious--- and is an intelligent, likable movie!

So, Cedric, when can we look forward to seeing part three?

A year of parties, love affairs, friendships, and heartaches in Barcelona.
I recently experienced this film for a second time on late-night cable. Written and directed by Cédric Klapisch, L'Auberge espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) is a 2002 light French comedy about a young Parisian economics student, Xavier (Romain Duris), who is studying for a year in Barcelona as part of the Erasmus programme (named after the traveling Dutch scholar of the Renaissance), where he encounters and learns from a group of seven international roommates (from Spain, England, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Denmark). The point of the movie is that travel broadens the mind, just as living abroad for a year is a life-changing educational experience in itself. Audrey Tautou of [[ASIN:B0000640VO Amelie]] plays Xavier's girlfriend, Martine. Cecile De France won a César Award for Most Promising Actress for her performance as a Belgian lesbian, who instructs Xavier in how to really make love to a woman. The plot draws mostly from the romantic adventures of all of the students. In England the film was released as "Pot Luck." In Spain it was released as Una casa de locos ("Madhouse"). Klapisch uses a kinetic, high-definition digital camera to tell his story, and the film features an globally eclectic soundtrack, including tracks by Radiohead ("No Surprises"), Daft Punk, Sonia & Selena, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Ali Farka Touré, and Frédéric Chopin. The movie also has a sequel, [[ASIN:B000GBEWP2 Russian Dolls]], and a third film is in production.

G. Merritt

Wonderfully Written
Not just entertaining, it's just plain good. Sharply written and with an authentic feel. As soon as I saw it I hopped on here and bought it. Along with Russian Dolls, a fitting sequel.