L'auberge espagnole (2002)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

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 | English | French

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
Martine Demaret	...	Xavier's Mother
Olivier Raynal	...	Bruce
Paulina Gálvez	...	Flamenco Teacher (as Paulina Galvez)
Jacno	...	Xavier's Father
Sylvie Lachat	...	University Secretary
Magali Roze	...	Stewardess
Shilpa Baliga	...	Nurse Miralpeix
Nadala Batiste	...	Neighbor Miralpeix
Pere Sagristà	...	Catalan Teacher (as Père Sagrista)
Pere Abello	...	Landlord (as Père Abello)
Babou Cham	...	Catalan Student 1
Daniel Grao	...	Catalan Student 2
Iván Morales	...	Catalan Student 3 (as Ivan Morales)
Jacques Royer	...	Erasmus
Mira Wanting	...	Mira (as Mira Herfort Wanting)
Arsène Royer	...	Lars' Son
Sophie Delin	...	Apartment Neighbor
Zinedine Soualem	...	Barman
Pablo Klapisch	...	Xavier as a Child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cédric Klapisch	...	Le professeur stressé (uncredited)
Lise Lamétrie	...	La femme au ministère (uncredited)
Sophie Le Tellier	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Cédric Klapisch

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Cédric Klapisch		writer

Produced by
Bruno Levy	....	producer
Jacques Royer	....	line producer

Cinematography by
Dominique Colin

Film Editing by
Francine Sandberg

Casting by
Pep Armengol
Lucy Boulting
Emmanuelle Gaborit

Production Design by
François Emmanuelli

Costume Design by
Anne Schotte

Makeup Department
Manuela Taco	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Victoria Borrás	....	production manager: Spain
Jacques Royer	....	production manager
Antoine Théron	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lola Doillon	....	first assistant director
Ophélie Gelber	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Marie Cheminal	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Dominique Dalmasso	....	sound mixer
Cyril Moisson	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Christophe Belena	....	scan and conforming technician: Duboicolor
Seb Caudron	....	visual effects director
Rip Hampton O'Neil	....	technical director: DuboiColor
Tina Lin	....	scan and conforming technician: Duboicolor
Nicolas Daniel	....	video operator: Duboicolor (uncredited)
François Dupuy	....	digital transfers (uncredited)
Sylvian Fabre	....	Flame artist (uncredited)
Abdel Ali Kassou	....	processing: DuboiColor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jérôme Plon	....	still photographer
Frédéric North	....	pilot: camera helicopter (uncredited)

Casting Department
Pep Armengol	....	casting: Spain
Jeanne Millet	....	extras casting
Annette Borgmann	....	casting: Germany (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Jean-René Nébot	....	digital color timer
Jenny Frenck	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Other crew
Sandra Bensadón	....	press attache
Agathe Sallabery	....	script supervisor
Géraldine Toitot	....	administrator
Arno Salters	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Bac Films
• Ce Qui Me Meut Motion Pictures
• France 2 Cinéma
• Mate Films
• Mate Producciones S.A.
• Studio Canal
• Vía Digital

Distributors

• Mars Distribution (2002) (France) (theatrical)
• BIM Distribuzione (2003) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Frenetic Films (2002) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Paradiso Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• TOBIS Film (2003) (Austria) (theatrical)
• TOBIS Film (2003) (Germany) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (Far East)
• Alfa Films (Argentina)
• Christal Films (Canada)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2003) (Asia) (subtitled)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2003) (Australia) (subtitled)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2003) (New Zealand) (subtitled)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2003) (Scandinavia) (subtitled)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2003) (South America) (subtitled)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2003) (USA) (subtitled)
• Impuls Home Entertainment (2004) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• New Age Entertainment (Portugal)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (200?) (Netherlands) (video)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
• Universum Film (UFA) (2004) (Germany) (DVD)

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:

"L'auberge espagnole" (the Spanish hotel) is the house in Barcelona where the Erasmus students live their adventures in the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Xavier is at the airport getting ready to leave for Barcelona, he goes to talk to Martine and then returns to his mother and picks up his small backpack. He then goes back to Martine, without his backpack, returns to his mother and picks up his backpack again.

Quotes:

Xavier: He was just like the jerks I always try to avoid. Why was he so desperate to talk to me?

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Reino de Silia

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".