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L'Auberge espagnole
L'Auberge espagnole
	French theatrical release poster
Directed by	Cédric Klapisch
Written by	Cédric Klapisch
Produced by	Bruno Levy
Starring	Romain Duris; Judith Godrèche; Audrey Tautou; Cécile de France;
Cinematography	Dominique Colin
Edited by	Francine Sandberg
Music by	Loïk Dury a.k.a. Kouz 1
Production; companies	Ce qui me meut; StudioCanal; France 2 Cinéma; BAC Films; Mate Productions; Castelao Producciones;
Distributed by	Mars Distribution (France); Filmax (Spain);
Release dates	17 May 2002 (Cannes); 19 June 2002 (France); 22 November 2002 (Spain);
Running time	122 minutes
Countries	France; Spain;
Languages	French; Spanish; English; Catalan; Danish; German; Italian;
Budget	€5 million; ($5.6 million)
Box office	$33.3 million

L'Auberge espagnole (French: [lobɛʁʒ ɛspaɲɔl], lit. 'The Spanish Inn'), also known as Pot Luck (United Kingdom) and The Spanish Apartment (Australia), is a 2002 romantic comedy-drama film directed and written by Cédric Klapisch. It is a co-production between France and Spain.^[3]

In the film, 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 instalment in the "Spanish Apartment" trilogy, which continues in the sequels Russian Dolls (2005) and Chinese Puzzle (2013).^[4]

Plot

Xavier, a 24-year-old economics graduate student from Paris, attends the Erasmus Programme in Barcelona to further his career, against the wishes of his girlfriend Martine. On the flight, Xavier meets a married couple from France, a doctor named Jean-Michel and his wife Anne-Sophie. They invite him to stay in their home while he looks for somewhere to live. Xavier eventually 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 Anne-Sophie, using seduction tips learned from Isabelle, 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 becomes depressed and hallucinates after Martine breaks up with him. He seeks Jean-Michel's advice, but he 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 Alistair in a sexual encounter with an American man.

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
Judith Godrèche as Anne-Sophie
Audrey Tautou as Martine
Cécile de France as Isabelle
Kelly Reilly as Wendy
Cristina Brondo [es] as Soledad
Federico D'Anna as Alessandro
Barnaby Metschurat as Tobias
Christian Pagh as Lars
Kevin Bishop as William
Xavier de Guillebon [fr] as Jean-Michel
Wladimir Yordanoff as Jean-Charles Perrin
Irene Montalà as Neus
Iddo Goldberg as Alistair
Martine Demaret [fr] as Xavier's mother
Olivier Raynal as Bruce
Paulina Gálvez as the flamenco teacher
Jacno as Xavier's father
Zinedine Soualem as the barman

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

Soundtrack

Radiohead – "No Surprises"
Daft Punk – "Aerodynamic"
Sonia & Selena – "Que Viva La Noche"
Marc-Antoine Charpentier – "Te Deum"
Ali Farka Touré – "Ai Du"
Frédéric Chopin – "Opus 64 No 2 Waltz in C sharp minor"
Africando All Stars – "Betece"
Mala Rodriguez – "La Cocinera"

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "This multicultural comedy captures the chaos and excitement of being young."^[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[8]

Accolades

Awards and nominations for *L'Auberge espagnole*
Award	Category	Recipients	Result
Brisbane International Film Festival	Audience Award		Won
César Awards	Best Film		Nominated
	Best Director	Cédric Klapisch	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Judith Godrèche	Nominated
	Most Promising Actress	Cécile de France	Won
	Best Writing	Cédric Klapisch	Nominated
	Best Editing	Francine Sandberg	Nominated
European Film Awards	People's Choice Award for Best European Film		Nominated
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival	Audience Award		Won
Lumières Awards	Best Screenplay	Cédric Klapisch	Won
Lumières Awards	Most Promising Actress	Cécile de France	Won
Sydney Film Festival	Audience Award		Won
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated

References

^ "L'Auberge espagnole". JP Box-Office (in French). Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
^ "The Spanish Apartment (2002)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
^ "L'Auberge espagnole – Cinémathèque française" (in French). La Bibliothèque du film. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
^ "Cédric Klapisch tourne Casse-tête chinois à New York". Le Figaro (in French). 11 September 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
^ Angoustures, Aline (2004). L'Espagne (in French). Le Cavalier Bleu. p. 117. ISBN 978-2-84670-078-8.
^ Planelles, Georges (2013). "Une auberge espagnole". Expressio.fr. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
^ "Euro Pudding". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 13 June 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
^ "L'Auberge Espagnole". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.