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L'Auberge Espagnole
EMAILPRINTFox Searchlight Pictures

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Romance
Written by: Cédric Klapisch
Directed by: Cédric Klapisch
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 16, 2003
DVD: December 23, 2003
Running Time: 128 minutes, Color
Origin: France / Spain
Language(s): French / Spanish / English / Catalan / Danish (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: R for language and sexual content
Starring Romain Duris, Cécile De France, Judith Godrèche, Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly, Xavier De Guillebon, Kevin Bishop, and Federico D'Anna
The story of a young man who, through cosmopolitan adventures and comic tribulations, finds his own unexpected place in a mixed-up, multi-cultural modern world. (Fox Searchlight)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Paris Russian Dolls
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site Official French Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
In almost every way that I can think of, L'Auberge Espagnole is a perfect movie... It is a film that feels alive.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Blissfully funny, terrifically intelligent and tender when you least expect it to be.
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
LAuberge Espagnole (The Spanish Hotel) is unexpectedly entertaining because it captures the point in young adulthood when life is unseriously serious, or maybe seriously unserious.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A love song to the new Europe (Klapisch's original title: Euro Pudding) and a snapshot of a polyglot gang on the cusp of kind-of-reckless youth and responsibility-burdened adulthood.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
This community finds its balance with an easy effortlessness.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Vignettish and offhand, but its extremely pleasant, and it suggests what can be done with lightweight equipment and a loose-limbed approach to the right subject. [19 May 2003, p. 94]
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Exhilarating comedy...Its warm, embracing spirit is refreshing in these divisive times.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Not since Lukas Moodysson's "Together" has communal living been depicted with such warmth and feeling for the entire ensemble.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
Writer-director-actor Cedric Klapisch simultaneously shows great moviemaking flair and reveals a very peculiar worldview.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
It energetically captures the frenzied pace of contemporary existence, the complexities of life in a multicultural world, the rootless joys of living in a foreign city and the heady world of possibilities one envisions while in college.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is as light and frothy as a French comedy, which is what it is, a reminder that Cedric Klapisch also directed "When the Cat's Away" (1996).
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Best of all, L'Auberge Espagnol uses Barcelona as a veritable character, a picturesque, vivacious place where, as one character puts it, ''No one eats before 10 p.m."
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Does a beautiful job of capturing that mood -- the exuberance and wistfulness of one man's last year of youthful irresponsibility before joining the rat race.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
A lighthearted, good-natured motion picture that contains enough humor to leaven the tone and keep the drama from becoming too serious.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The atmosphere of gentle communal chaos is authentic enough to become the movie's dramatic center.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
The movie also rather sweetly suggests that the apartment being shared is Europe itself. There's a reason this warm, stylish human comedy was a big hit all across the Continent: It conveys a new generation's conviction that borders no longer matter.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt
Klapisch frequently uses voiceovers to express Xaviers thoughts, and Duris expresses those thoughts beautifully, with a quirky open face, tuned perfectly to whatever his character is thinking.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
The characters are well-observed and mercifully unrepresentative of their home countries. (Kevin Bishop is laugh-out-loud funny as a clueless British visitor who shows up to offend more than one national sensibility.)
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jennifer Vanasco
The film is a pleasant ramble through an eventful year. Klapisch's special effects--cameras speeding down hallways, superimposed images--are both amusing and annoying.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Presents an appealing and persuasive picture of European integration, in which national differences, which once sparked military and political conflict, are preserved because they make life sexier and more interesting.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
A film whose limitations are the same as its appeal: It's a bauble. Running at barely more than 80 minutes, the film is both a travelogue and a commercial for swinging polyglot Europe.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
The real stars of the film are Francois Emmanuelli's vibrant production design, Klapisch's flair with inventive optical effects and above all Barcelona itself, captured here in all its baroque brilliance.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The pace is fairly hectic, which it needs to be. (Mustn't linger on bubbles.) The performances are warm, especially the tender Judith Godrèche as the doctor's wife.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
While breezy and fun, the film is also flimsy and sloppy in style and content.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
At times, writer-director Cedric Klapsich seems to be trying to copy the frestyle of "Amelie," but L'Auberge achieves only a fraction of its charm.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Beware of movies whose creators boast of the little effort involved. Little reward is what you're likely to get.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
A dodgy, hit-or-miss affair that never quiet seems to gel: too many lumpy bits, and not enough crème.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Movies can certainly be worse than bad sitcoms, and this is one of them.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
Klapisch wants his characters shiny bright, and winds up making them excruciatingly dull in the process. Watching L'Auberge Espagnole is like seeing the young Maoist revolutionaries of Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 "La Chinoise" body-snatched by the international touring company of "Up With People."
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
Cédric Klapisch has been compared to Truffaut, but the new-waver's weakness for glib sentimentalism seems to have left the biggest impression on L'Auberge Espagnole.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Amurabi M. gave it a7:
Without the annoying visual effects, the lead character in his depressive period (and loser attitude) and the use of bad accents in spanish (looks like the actors learn just the lines who performed, but they are not believable like students in Barcelona in an entire year of learning language), "L´Auberge Espagnole" could be a great french comedy without corny approaches. Klapisch´s film looks radiant, vibrant, funny, full of life, splendorous and optimistic. Someone coul be understand the propaganda in it, but the whole sense of the movie prevails over that. This film is not hilarious but has some joie de vivre that is more important and vital.
J. Ryan G. gave it a4:
A pro-European Union political essay that was adapted to the big screen. Energetic and constantly thinking, the film would work brilliantly if the main character weren't a complete loser, if certain romantic subplots weren't completely illegitimate, and if the ending's revelation wasn't completely uncalled for.
Jorge A. gave it a10:
Très comique! A mi me gusta porque usa las tres idiomas que más me gustan. I especially love the fact that there is much to be loved about different cultures and how Xavier learns many of life's greatest lessons from the most unlikely of places.
Terence P gave it a10:
This is a very enjoyable movie, like mentioned already, it reminded me of my time living in Europe. The characters are well written and the dialog is lively. I highly recommend this movie.
Junior N. gave it a 10:
This is better than a lotta things that they show us on the box office...this is an intelligent movie , funny, a must see!!!! C'est Plus intelligent que beaucoup de navet qui passe au box-office et meilleur!
L B gave it a 10:
Wonderfully upbeat, realistic, comical movie. A must see foreign flick.
Carlos C. gave it a 10:
A great film that depicts the crazy life of a study abroad experience. From the music to the beautiful sights of Barcelona, I rate this movie a ten!
