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L'Auberge Espagnole
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Wikipedia article
'L'Auberge Espagnole' (; literally: "the Spanish inn"), also known as 'Pot Luck' (UK) and 'The Spanish Apartment' (Australia), is a 2002 French-Spanish film directed and written by Cdric Klapisch. It is a co-production of Mate Production, Via Digital, BAC Films, ', France 2 Cinma and Studio Canal).
An economics graduate student from France, Xavier, spends a year in Barcelona to study. His fellow Erasmus students are from all over Western Europe and have a flatshare. They each speak different languages and have different cultural standards.
The film is told in the first person by Xavier. The dialogue is mostly in French, with some English and much Spanish, a little Catalan, Danish, German and Italian.
It is the first part of the 'Spanish Apartment' trilogy, which continues in the sequels 'Russian Dolls' (2005) and 'Chinese Puzzle' (2013).
Plot
Xavier (Romain Duris), a 24-year-old student from France, attends the Erasmus programme in Barcelona to further his career, against the wishes of his girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou). On the flight, Xavier meets a married couple from France, a doctor and his wife. They invite him to stay in their home while he looks for somewhere to live. Xavier finds a flatshare with students from England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Denmark. The roommates develop a companionship as they struggle with their different languages and cultures.
Martine visits Xavier and returns disappointed when she realizes things are not the same. Xavier begins an affair with the French doctor's wife, using seduction tips learned from Isabelle (Ccile de France), his lesbian roommate from Belgium. William arrives from England to visit his sister Wendy and creates tension with his abrasive manner and culturally insensitive comments.
Xavier gets depressed and hallucinates after Martine breaks up with him. He seeks the doctor's advice, but the doctor tells Xavier that his wife has confessed everything, and tells him to stop seeing her.
Discord divides the roommates, but they come together to aid Wendy, who was nearly caught by her boyfriend in a romantic encounter with an American.
After saying goodbye to his new close friends, Xavier returns to Paris and gets his desired job at the ministry, but realizes that his experiences in Spain have changed him. He subsequently runs away on his first day on the job and pursues his dream to become a writer, recounting the story of his experiences in the 'Auberge Espagnole'. Towards the end Xavier can be seen getting together with his now ex-girlfriend Martine as well.
Cast
* Romain Duris as Xavier
* Barnaby Metschurat as Tobias
* Judith Godrche as Anne-Sophie
* Ccile de France as Isabelle
* Kelly Reilly as Wendy
* Audrey Tautou as Martine
* Cristina Brondo as Soledad
* Kevin Bishop as William
* Wladimir Yordanoff as Jean-Michel Perrin
* Federico D'Anna as Alessandro
* Christian Pagh as Lars
* Zinedine Soualem as The barman
* Lise Lamtrie as The woman in the ministry
* Martine Demaret as Xavier's mother
* Jacno as Xavier's father
* Olivier Raynal as Bruce
* Iddo Goldberg as Alistair
* Irene Montal as Neus
Title
The phrase 'auberge espagnole' is a French idiom, literally translated as "Spanish inn" or "Spanish hotel". It describes a place where customers can eat what they bring – by extension, that one must be independent.
Another French interpretation is what in English is known as "Going Dutch" or "potluck", hence its English title.
A third meaning of 'auberge espagnole' is a common resting area for travellers from a variety of different cultures and regions.
Soundtrack
* Radiohead "No Surprises"
* Daft Punk "Aerodynamic"
* Sonia & Selena "Que Viva La Noche"
* Marc-Antoine Charpentier "Te Deum"
* Ali Farka Tour "Ai Du"
* Frdric Chopin "Opus 64 No 2 Waltz in C sharp minor"
* Africando All Stars "Betece"
* Mala Rodriguez "La Cocinera"
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 76%, based on 92 reviews, with an average rating of 6.53/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "This multicultural comedy captures the chaos and excitement of being young." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Awards
References
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