L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment)

L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment)
by Cdric Klapisch

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DVD Reviews of L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment)

DVD Review: A journey to find oneself in a confusing globalized world
Summary: 4 Stars

Once there, he finds a flat with a group of students from other countries, including Isabelle from Belgium, Lars from Denmark, the clean freak Wendy from Britain, and Alessandro from Italy, a chronic mess-maker whom I tried to find a picture of Oscar from The Odd Couple, but it was probably buried under his mess. Yes, six, later seven students living together in a cramped apartment does make quite a monkey cage. He is also befriended by a French couple, the brain specialist Jean-Michel and his wife Anne-Sophie, who put him up for a while pending new living arrangements.

The title apartment, with the various students represents a miniaturized European Union, represented by Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and France. The students are here to mold their future into careers, and their encounters with several students from other parts of the world symbolizes the globalization that's become ever more apparent in the 1990's and the naughts. Yet one of the effects of that is a meshing of cultures to the point that one goes from being French to being European, soaking in the culture and psyche of his/her fellow students. One thus learns what it's like to be a foreigner and also to show proper respect to people from other cultures. The importance of this is demonstrated by Isabelle and some other students, who have learned Castilian, to soberly discover that one professor teaches his courses speaking Catalan, the dominant language in Barcelona. Another is when Wendy's visiting brother William, who apart from being a nuisance to the students trying to study, unwittingly offends some of them with his ignorance. Call him the British version of a redneck, someone unaware of the cultural melding taking place.

Compare that to Martine, Xavier's girlfriend, played by Amelie's Audrey Tautou. Despite having less than a combined ten minutes screen-time, there is a scene where we learn she was named after the character in a children's book who fed the farm animals. She thinks it's sexist that the women had to do all the work, yet Martine also represents a simpler, rural life that's in danger of vanishing in today's globalized world. Think of the careers post-industrial women have today. With Xavier gone to Barcelona and his miniature EC, the strain between them represents traditional simplicity versus globalization.

Xavier's studies is also a journey to find himself in this multicultural environment, but it becomes an adventure. He becomes more attuned to his surroundings, and his taking out the slightly shy, un-hip Anne-Sophie on outings, sanctioned by her absentee husband, leads to an affair.

Historically, it's interesting and apropos that this story takes place in Spain, which spearheaded the first post-Roman empire in Western Civilization, empires leading to globalism. Ditto for the name of the student programme, as Erasmus left Paris, like Xavier, and found an affinity towards humanist scholars such as Thomas More in England.

The students are well-cast, as they are like any bunch of university students I met in my time at NMSU, with Kelly Reilly (Wendy) and Cecile De France (Isabelle) pulling standout and very likeable performances. And the location shooting, be it the streets or the coloured frameworks of buildings under construction, brings in a fresh ambience. An interesting and unforgettable adventure of discovering oneself in this quick-paced, confusing globalized world.

Description of L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment)