L'Auberge Espagnole (2002)
"L'auberge espagnole" (original title)

A strait-laced French student moves into an apartment in Barcelona with a cast of six other characters from all over Europe. Together, they speak the international language of love and friendship.

Director:

Cédric Klapisch

Writer:

Cédric Klapisch

Stars:

Romain Duris, Judith Godrèche, Audrey Tautou

8 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Romain Duris	...	Xavier
Judith Godrèche	...	Anne-Sophie
Audrey Tautou	...	Martine
Cécile De France	...	Isabelle
Kelly Reilly	...	Wendy (as Keilly Reilly)
Cristina Brondo	...	Soledad
Federico D'Anna	...	Alessandro (as Fédérico D'anna)
Barnaby Metschurat	...	Tobias
Christian Pagh	...	Lars
Kevin Bishop	...	William
Xavier De Guillebon	...	Jean-Michel
Wladimir Yordanoff	...	Jean-Charles Perrin
Irene Montalà	...	Neus (as Irène Montala)
Javier Coromina	...	Juan
Iddo Goldberg	...	Alistair

Storyline

As part of a job that he is promised, Xavier, an economics student in his twenties, signs on to a European exchange program in order to gain working knowledge of the Spanish language. Promising that they'll remain close, he says farewell to his loving girlfriend, then heads to Barcelona. Following his arrival, Xavier is soon thrust into a cultural melting pot when he moves into an apartment full of international students. An Italian, an English girl, a boy from Denmark, a young girl from Belgium, a German and a girl from Tarragona all join him in a series of adventures that serve as an initiation to life.

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Plot Keywords:

student | apartment | language | friendship | english | 

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Taglines:

They came from Paris, Rome, London and Berlin to... l'Auberge Espagnole ...where a year can change a lifetime.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexual content

Details

Country:

France Spain

Language:

French Spanish English Catalan Danish German Italian

Release Date:

19 June 2002 (France)

Also Known As:

The Spanish Apartment

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

€5,300,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$59,309 (USA) (16 May 2003)

Gross:

$3,895,664 (USA) (19 September 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bac Films, Ce Qui Me Meut Motion Pictures, France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min 111 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the English subtitles, several sections are purposefully translated incorrectly to preserve the humorous nature of the film. The list of strange names around Paris is changed to "Honolulu, Punxsutawney, Piccadilly, Massachusetts, Saskatoon and Machu Picchu;" and during the scene in which Wendy mispronounces "Xavier n'est pas ici..." the English subtitles say "Xavier eez not here..."

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Goofs

Next to the telephone, on the board indicating how to say a roommate is not there in many languages, the colors on the German flag are wrong. (It looks like a Belgian flag rotated 90 degrees clockwise.)

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Quotes

Wendy: Xavier's gone to school. Okay?
Xavier's Mother: Ah, oui! Il est à la fac.
Wendy: What?
Xavier's Mother: La fac!
Wendy: LA "FUCK"?
Xavier's Mother: Yes. After fac he can telephone maman.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, each actor is credited along with the flag of the country where their character is from.

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Connections

Referenced in Russian Dolls (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Le Rêve de l'hippocampe"
Performed by Mathieu Dury (as Kouz-1)
(Loïc Dury (as L. Dury) / Mathieu Dury (as M. Dury))

User Reviews

beautiful film about memories

There are a few things in life that we can't experience more than once and the college experience is one of them. Especially if we're living in a foreign country and in a apartment with 6 wackos from 6 different countries. Xavier the main character leaves his tidy life in Paris, his ex-hippy mother and his beautiful girlfriend and goes to Barcelona to study spanish in order to get a job at the embassy. He falls in love with the wife of a french doctor and he makes friends that make him look at things differently. When Wendy's brother (Wendy is one of the room mates) comes from England the film starts to become a lot funnier. Well anyway, Xavier starts to see things differently with all his new friends and he probably lives something he will never forget and will change his life forever. Overall a very nice nostalgic film, which becomes even more interesting because of the multinational cast. I thought it was very interesting that you could see all these kids from different countries, all of them speaking different languages and having different cultures get along with each other and fun. I gave it a 9 out of 10 because I left the theatre with a smile on my face and thinking about things I haven't done yet while I'm still in college and would want to do before it's too late.