L'Auberge Espagnole

views updated

L'Auberge Espagnole ★★★The Spanish Apartment; Euro Pudding 2002 (R)

Exuberant comedy that follows a French student during an eventful year in Barcelona. Xavier (Duris) is advised to study Spanish and Spanish economics in order to secure a government job. So he signs up for a European exchange program, bids goodbye to girlfriend Martine (Tantou), and heads to Spain where he eventually moves into a lively rooming house filled with fellow students. Xavier is a ittle bit of a rogue and is soon squiring around (at her husband's request), the shy wife (Godreche) of an obnoxious countryman and developing a crush on a Belgian exchange student (de France), who is interested in Xavier only as a friend. Barcelona's baroque charms are also another character in Klapisch's light-hearted production. English, French, and Spanish with subtitles. 117m/C VHS, DVD . FR SP Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Judith Godreche, Cecile de France, Kelly Reilly, Kevin Bishop, Xavier De Guillebon; D: Cedric Klapisch; W: Cedric Klapisch; C: Dominique Colin.