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A Fox release. Written and directed by Cedric Klapisch; starring Romain Duris. Released to DVD on November 11, 2003.  Contrary to what the marketing department and posters would have you believe, Romain Duris, not Audrey Tautou, stars in L’Auberge Espagnole. Duris plays Xavier, a 24 year old who is completely unsure of what he wants to do with his life. After talking to his father, Xavier decides it would be in his best interest to spend a year in Barcelona, Spain, studying economics and learning to speak Spanish. Once there, Xavier settles into a very pleasant lifestyle living in an apartment with six other foreign exchange students from a host of different European nations. Written and directed by Cedric Klapisch (When the Cat’s Away), L’Auberge Espagnole is a surprisingly bland combination of Real World-like situations and after-school-special melodrama. With Xavier’s parents, girlfriend, French friends, six roommates and roommates’ significant others in the mix, there are almost too many characters in this film. The large number of characters wouldn’t necessarily be that much of a problem if Klapisch didn’t attempt to give them all their own back stories and tribulations to work through, ranging from unplanned pregnancy to cheating spouses. With this in mind, Xavier is an incredibly interesting choice for the lead. Up tight and yet lacking any sort of direction in his life, it is never apparent that Xavier particularly likes doing anything, nor does he ever have any real problems to overcome. The feel of the project is decidedly bold and colorful, but even this can’t make up for the weak script, strained acting performances and odd pacing of L’Auberge Espagnole. This film definitely had its moments, it’s just a shame that Klapisch was unable to string any of them together to get any sort of a rhythm going.
jake lever yes, it's true: Although the studio translates L’AuBerge Espagnole to "The Spanish Apartment" on the movie’s poster and DVD box, the film’s writer/director translates it to "Euro Pudding". |
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