L'auberge espagnole (2002)

Director:

Cédric Klapisch

Writer:

Cédric Klapisch (writer)

Release Date:

19 June 2002 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Apartment | Language | Spanish | Love

Awards:

8 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Pot Luck (Canada: English title) (UK)
Euro Pudding (International: English title)
L'auberge espagnole (USA)
The Spanish Apartment (USA)
Una casa de locos (Spain)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexual content.

Runtime:

122 min | Finland:117 min | Turkey:111 min (TV version)

Country:

France | Spain

Language:

French | Spanish | English | Catalan | Danish | German | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Iceland:10 | Iceland:LH (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:6 | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Bac Films

Trivia:

In the English subtitles, several sections are purposefully translated incorrectly. 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..."

Goofs:

Continuity: When Tobias is talking with William, he grabs a highlighter and a ruler to mark his textbook. In the next shot, we see him underline with a pen and the highlighter is nowhere to be seen.

Quotes:

[Xavier is trying to convince Wendy to come with the gang to a night club]
Wendy: Xavier, I can't. I've... I've really got to write, okay?
Xavier: But, Wendy, you will write tomorrow. Come on!
Wendy: No. This is my diary. You know, I need to be disciplined.
Xavier: Wendy, you're too serious, you know!
Wendy: What do you mean, I'm too serious?
Xavier: You are not a nun! Come on! Come with us tonight, please!
Wendy: Listen! I'm not a nun! I just don't want to go out with... e-e-everyone! I don't like clubs and... and I don't like dancing. Maybe I'm not your idea of a typical trendy London girl, but techno music bulls me, all right? And if I'm a nun because I don't get out of this house enough for you guys, then that's too bad!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in European confusiòn: Making-of 'L'auberge espagnole' (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Waltz Op. 64 N°2 In C-Sharp Minor

an initiation to life

One of the biggest French success of the year 2002, "l'auberge espagnole" was also very well greeted abroad which is quite extraordinary for a French film. It is not difficult to define the reasons of this success. This movie made by one of the most interesting French film-makers of these last years, Cédric Klapisch, presents students coming from all over Europe and gathered all together under the same roof in Barcelona. These students are described like the ones you imagine or you see in everyday life: either untidy, either serious or with a sense of humor. I guess that if the movie worked so well, it is because a lot of students must have recognized themselves in the main characters' portraits and especially Xavier's.

We follow the movie and so his experience abroad as an Erasmus student through his eyes. Xavier is really an ordinary student with his qualities, his faults. An intelligent making with quite a lot of ingenious ideas perfectly expresses his lost mind and his anxiety about the world and being an Erasmus student. On that subject, the best examples can be found in two sequences. The first one is when Xavier asks a woman at university for the papers he has to send to prepare his DEA. When the same woman informs him about the different necessary procedures, all the papers appear on the screen when she is naming them! In the next sequence, Xavier's voice-over confides to the spectator his vision of the modern world. Now, where to find the second example? Well, the scene where Xavier has a thorough medical examination during which Klapisch films his visions is widely sufficient to speak of itself.

Moreover, the director wasn't really interested by his main character's studies. He left this point low-key. He rather put a lot of effort into Xavier's private life, of course, in his love affair with Anne Sophie but also and especially in his relations with his fellow tenants. It is a real friendship story that Klapisch shows us with its moments of happiness but also its arguments and its tensions. Through Xavier's adventure and at the end of his stay, he will have been initiated into life which will make him more mature. The message that the author wanted to transmit isn't difficult to guess. You naively believe that you live in an untidy and complicated world. You mustn't give up but intensively search to get what you want even if it is difficult.

Apart from this, we could also fear that with the topic, Cédric Klapisch wouldn't avoid a trap: the clichés. Let's be frank about it: they are included in the screenplay but the director does his best not to spread them too much in his movie. Then, the screenplay contains convenient and predictable moments: at the airport and before boarding we see Xavier shedding a tear after he left his family. But fortunately the shortcomings of the script stop here. Quite funny dialogs and cool young actors perfectly at ease in their roles make up the whole.

In spite of its weaknesses, "l'auberge espagnole" is to be taken for a success in the movie of young people. Besides, the whole atmosphere it brings out lets us think that this movie is directed primarily to a young audience. Ultimately, the end of the movie and its big success let us suggest that Klapisch succumbed to a fashion that goes right for American cinema: the elaboration of sequels. And indeed, the film-maker currently works on a sequel entitled "les poupées russes". Let's hope that it will be as good as "l'auberge espagnole".