In France, Xavier (Romain Duris) is a young economist of twenty and something years, trying to get a job in a governmental department through a friend of his father. He is advised to have a specialization in Spanish economy and language to get a good position. He decides to apply in an European exchange program called "Erasmus" and move to Barcelona to improve his knowledges in Spanish culture and language. She leaves his girlfriend Martine (Audry Tautou),promising to keep a close contact with her, and once in Barcelona, he is temporarily lodged by a French doctor Jean-Michel (Xavier de Guillebon) and his young and lonely wife Anne-Sophie (Judith Godrèche) he had met in the airport. Later, he moves to an apartment with international students: the English Wendy (Kelly Reilly),the Spanish Soledad (Cristina Brondo),the Italian Alessandro (Fédérico D'anna),the Danish Lars (Christian Pagh) and the German Tobias (Barnaby Metschurat). Then the Belgium Isabelle (Cécile de France) and Wendy's brother William (Kevin Bishop) join the group, and Xavier learns Spanish language, and finds friendship and love in his experience living abroad. "L' Auberge Espagnole" is one of those movies the viewer becomes sad when it ends. The story is a delightful and funny tale of friendship and love, in a globalized world and an unified Europe. This very charming movie made me feel good and happy, although I have never experienced to live in a republic of students. The newcomer William provokes the funniest situations along the story, with his big mouth and short brain. Further, it great to see a fresh approach of students living together different from those dumb American fraternities and their stereotypes, common in American movies. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Albergue Espanhol" (Spanish Auberge")

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".

The film is about a group of almost exclusively Western Europeans all living together in Barcelona in order to save money. The apartment is just jam-packed with these students. The story centers on a French student, Xavier, but also shows what's happening in the lives of several of his roommates (though a few are just there--with little insight into them or what makes them tick). An interesting idea, but it might have been improved by the addition of more nationalities--especially non-Western Europeans. I applaud the film makers for doing something different. Here they have created a truly multinational movie--with many, many different languages. So, it's one of the few films that will require you to read subtitles no matter where you are from--though I suppose somewhere there is one person who actually understands Danish, Italian, French, German, English, Spanish and perhaps another couple languages.

Now this does not mean I loved the film? I liked parts of it, but the film suffered from a few plot problems--at least for me. Two things about the film bothered me but I am sure not everyone will be as turned off by them as much as me. First, any film that shows someone vomiting has to lose a point or two. If you are have a character retching, that's fine--but to show it repeatedly in all its glory is just nasty. I don't like watching vomit come shooting out a person's mouth--just call me weird about that! Secondly, while this problem is not always serious (it depends on the type of film),I have a hard time with a film where the main character is unlikable. This doesn't mean they need to be perfect, but having Xavier be such a jerk was a major turn off for me. He has a lovely fiancée but sleeps with a married woman...not exactly an endearing behavior. Several others also have equally discerning taste or help their roommates cheat on their significant others--making many in this flat seem like jerks. Though I must admit that the acting and direction were still good.

Finally, a word about the DVD and poster art as well as the casting. Although Audrey Tautou is featured prominently and receives billing near the top of the film, her part was actually quite small. But, with the success of "Amélie", the film makers decided to try to exploit her small part and fool the public. I hate film marketing people--because that's exactly why I watched the film in the first place! It is clearly NOT a starring vehicle for her and if you expect that, you'll be sorely disappointed, like I was.