L'Auberge Espagnole


L'Auberge Espagnole, also known as Pot Luck and The Spanish Apartment.
An economics graduate student from France, Xavier, spends a year in Barcelona to study. His fellow 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.ű
It is the first part of the Spanish Apartment trilogy, which continues in the sequels Russian Dolls and Chinese Puzzle.

Plot

Xavier, a 24-year-old student from France, 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 and his wife. They invite him to stay in their home while he looks for somehwere to live. Xavier 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 the French doctor's wife, 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 gets depressed and hallucinates after Martine breaks up with him. He seeks the doctor's advice, but the doctor tells Xavoer that his wifehas 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 in a romantic encounter with an American.
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

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.
Another French intepretation 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.

Soundtrack

Award / Film FestivalCategoryRecipientsResult
Brisbane International Film FestivalAudience Award
César AwardsBest Film
César AwardsBest DirectorCédric Klapisch
César AwardsBest Supporting ActressJudith Godrèche
César AwardsMost Promising ActressCécile de France
César AwardsBest WritingCédric Klapisch
César AwardsBest Editing
European Film AwardsPeople's Choice Award for Best European Film
Karlovy Vary International Film FestivalAudience Award
Lumières AwardsBest ScreenplayCédric Klapisch
Lumières AwardsMost Promising ActressCécile de France
Sydney Film FestivalAudience Award
Vancouver Film Critics Circle AwardsBest Foreign Language Film