Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rebirth Under The Spanish Sun, September 15, 2003
In the tradition of many French films, L'Auberge Espagnole is a warm,well written, coming of age and semi autobiographical movie that is guaranteed to stay with you long after you watch it.Cedric Klapish does a wonderful job in telling a story that at first look does not seem to say much, but hides many realizations, which the viewer will subtley unravel one by one. The plot seems simple enough: Xavier a young French student (played wonderfully by Roman Duris)is preparing his future life and career in the EU commision thanks to his father's connections, provided that he acquires a masters degrees in Spanish economics. He goes to Barcelona,leaving his girlfriend behind (Amelie's Audrey Tatou),and after staying with a French couple he meets at the airport, he finally gets a room in a flat he shares with others European students,from Italy, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and England.He is estatic about his new lodgings and the good vibes he gets from it, little does he know that his life is about to change forever from that moment on.
His plans for a secure career, and his mundane and sheltered life comes gradually under attack from his experiences with his roommates in a foreign city he comes to love: An affair with the wife of a French doctor (the excellent Judith Godreche)the same couple he stayed with on his arrival,his lesson of seduction by a lesbian (the gorgeous Cecile de France),who becomes his best friend, a friendship first sealed by their common love of the music of Ali Fakre Toure (I thought what an original way to seal a friendship!),and the love of life in all its colours he soon discovers.
The core of the film is not about some Europeans getting together in the spirit of a new Europe, with all their cultural differences and habits, it is rather about a young man who finally discovers who he really is and what he wants from life! Barcelona could be London or Paris or anywhere else for that matter, and the students could have been from any nationality, it does not matter as much as the fact that it is about a journey of self discovery and change, this is what makes the film a masterpiece.
I first thought that there were too many characters in the film which could have easily done without, especially that some students, like the Italian, German and Danish characters are more than extras and not quite developped, but by the end of the film, you do understand why Klapish wrote them all.
Apart from Duris's charater, I thought the English characters were well written and provide most of the humour in the film (brilliantly played by Kelly Reilly and Kevin Bishop).It is always interesting to see how the English are seen and portrayed in French films, and vice versa-The love/hate relationship of the two countries is legendary ever since William the Conqueror woke up one morning and decided to have Fish'n'Chips for lunch-but Klapish,although falling slightly in the cliche of the heavily drunk who can't take his drink, he has a sympathetic eye for the 'neighbors across the channel'.
Klapish's aversion of bureaucracy is very well emphasized: the fast camera shots of the EU corridors, the endless forms he has to fill, the men in grey suits who think they can tell a joke, a world that Xavier realizes he does not belong to.
So L'Auberge Espagnole is a movie about friendships, about self discovery and it is about rebirth, a film that should on no account be missed.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Awakening to Love and Life ..., December 8, 2007
Xavier is a handsome young Parisian college man who is looking to improve his economic future. He learns from his father's friend who deals in international business that with the European Union, there are great business opportunities by knowing Spanish. He assures Xavier of a position but he needs to obtain a his degree. Xavier participates in an international student exchange program where he will attend University in Barcelona to complete his major. His Spanish is a bit rusty ... He bids good-bye to his tearful but emotionally needy girlfriend Martine and his mother as he boards his flight for Spain.
Xavier meets a French couple on the airplane who help him acclimate to Barcelona, the husband is a neurologist, his wife stays at home. Xavier does some apartment hunting but without fruition. The couple let him stay at their home until he finds a permanent situation to meet his needs during his senior year of college. With great difficulty, he finds an ad for an apartment that suits his wallet size: it is an apartment shared by students from all over Europe: an English girl, a German young man, a Belgian, an Italian, a Spanish young woman, and a student from Denmark.
Xavier's long distance relationship with his girlfriend Martine suffers greatly while he is away. She comes to visit him in Spain and lays a lot of emotional guilt on him. Xavier enters into a new and unanticipated social life with his roommates. They go to tapas bars, dance and get drunk ... as their last year of college draws to a close. One new roommate is needed to make ends meet: they interview a Spanish girl, who it turns out is a lesbian. Xavier and she bond in friendship. She provides him invaluable advice in gratifying a woman's sexual needs. Xavier becomes socially involved with Anne-Marie, going on walking tours, to the beach and to historical places in Barcelona. This relationships evolves into a sexual liason. Amazingly enough the husband does not find out but eventually he suspects something is up between them when Xavier begins to have visions of Erasmus (the Renaissance man after whom the college student exchange program is named). Xavier explains his hallucinations to the neurologist who does various tests and by chance discovers Xavier has some impure thoughts about his wife. This is a frolicking, funny "coming of age" story where Xavier discovers his true self and along the way, comes to some serious realizations about life. He also manages to enjoy himself on a wild and crazy ride with his international friends during his last year of college. This is a highly recommended entertaining and amusing escape-from-reality type film. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
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26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Youth, Joy and Panache, January 11, 2004
L'AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE is to films what 'Catcher in the Rye' is to books - a wonder-full romp through the coming of age of multinational youths who are simultaneously dissimilar and similar. The inception of the film is artful with extraordinary camera effects, gradually introducing all the characters we will encounter by means of clever frames within frames and woven words with images. The story is straightforward: Xavier is a bright Parisian boy (Romain Duris, who truly holds this film together), living with his hippie vegetarian mother, and under the influence of the 'adults' who counsel him to learn Spanish, get his MA in Barcelona, then return to Paris as an Economist versed in the Spanish market (remember the 'Graduate' and plastics?).With much anxiety over leaving his Paris, his native language, and his girlfriend (the always lovely Audrey Tautou), he flies to Barcelona. There he is befriended by a Neurologist (whose new wife is to become his paramour), and finally finds an apartment shared by 5 of the most refreshing youths ever gathered under one roof - German, Italian, British, Danish, Spanish, and now French. It is the intermingling of these lives that is the joy of the story and we are witness to their foibles, idiosyncrasies, national traits, bonding, affairs, and finally their influence on the refreshed Xavier's world view. After a year of social and intellectual and emotional learning, Xavier flies back to Paris to accept his "new life" as a boring economics executive, only to wake up and return to the city of joy - Barcelona, Spain. Each of this large cast is excellent, drawing portraits of people we know so well by the end of the that WE could (or could wish to) have as roommates. The photography captures the beauty of Barcelona with lingering glimpses of Gaudi architecture, the ocean, and the vistas. But it is in the end the wonder capturing of our youth (or dreams of same) that makes this movie so special. Highly recommended!
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