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 L'Auberge Espagnole is a trifle of a movie. It maintains a fairly lighthearted atmosphere, is occasionally humorous, and ultimately feels pointless, but familiar. The story is essentially the tale of a young man blindly making his way towards college and a job at a government ministry. On the suggestion of a highly placed member of the ministry, he decides to do spend his final year of economics studying in Spain, and learning Spainish (which the man had told him would place him at the head of the pack for a number of positions to be opened in the ministry). Of course, as a child he wanted to be a novelist, not a government cog. In Barcelona, after some trouble finding lodging, he settles down with a number of students also studying abroad. He is enthralled at the prospect of living with these people, and sees them as the real life equivalent of his inner dialogues. The film follows him as he struggles to "find himself" and copes with a number of problems (primarily love-related, through his year in Barcelona and till the begining of his job in the ministry. Visually and aurally the movie is low-average, often feeling colorless, unsteady and occasionally employing frustrating editing/effects (such as a rapid fastforward through hallways, or layering several shots of the same scene on top of eachother. I get the feeling that if i had seen this during my last years of high school, I would have been inspiried (and eager to join a study abroad programme), so, if you're at a stage in life where you havn't had any deep disappointments nor many great victories, you would probably love this movie, and maybe even be inspired by it. But, to me, this movie was a fairly hollow, occasionally entertaining, but failed (and perhaps admirable) attempt at depicting the pressures, follies, and uncharted territories of life.
Enjoyed this movie, especially de France's character (the lesbian However, it was obvious that the scene where the English sister and brother were arguing in her bedroom was severly cut, evident in the sloppy editing (especially right after she kicks him out of her room, you see a cut and then you see them hugging and making up). The edits were also mentioned by a reviewer from
L'auberge espagnol is a coming-of-age fable set in modern day Barcelona, where the players are hip and the Bohemian rules. The movie is like a piece of cake (or pudding?): fluffy, sweet, and makes you feel good without weighing you down. It's on the edge of being a chick-flick but doesn't have the happy ending you might expect. It's a good film...and even better if you're going on an exchange program and want a morale boost. The whimsical filming and editing smooth the icing quite nicely, and the beautiful locations don't hurt, either.
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I remember seeing the poster for this movie at a movie theater
I saw this movie in Madrid twice and think I could still see it another 10 times. This is a great way they portray how Europe comes together in a very crazy way.
