(2002; French, Spanish, English) In director Cedric Klapisch's The Spanish Apartment are an international group of students studying in Barcelona, Spain. This story begins where it ends with a young man learning to fly on his own.

Restless at home with his hippie mother, anxious to please his father, 24-year-old Xavier (Romain Duris) meets with Mr Perrin, a friend of his father's, for an interview in Paris at a prestigious firm where he's encouraged to earn a post-graduate degree in economics along with the ability to communicate in Spanish. Sadly leaving behind his girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou), Xavier flies to Barcelona as an Erasmus exchange student enrolled in the University of Barcelona.

Upon his arrival he makes acquaintance with Jean-Michel (Xavier De Guillebon), a neurosurgeon, of whom his first impression is dislike, and his bride of 15-days Anne-Sophie (Judith Godrèche); but with whom he soon after accepts the favor of sleeping on their couch until he can locate his own residence.

At first nothing makes sense to a stranger in a new city. Jean-Michel suggests that his shy, insecure wife go out into the city with Xavier who knows a little Spanish.

The rents are exorbitant. In an apartment shared by a group of five students seeking an additional roommate, Xavier passes their entrance examination. Wendy (Kelly Reilly) is from London; Lars is German; Alessandro is Italian; Tobias is Danish; Soledad is a Spanish girl. Each possesses a separate identity within their unity of diversity - the ideal envisioned in the European Union. However, in a lecture course in which Xavier and other Erasmus students sit, the professor insists upon speaking in Catalan for his Catalan students rather than Spanish.

Easy-going Xavier, fluent in friendship, already knowledgeable in English, picks up Spanish readily. In the apartment privacy is at a premium; refrigerator space, use of the telephone, and chores to keep the living quarters above squalor require diplomacy. When the landlord raises the rent, the students suddenly need a seventh roommate; Xavier brings in fellow classmate Isabelle (Cécile De France), who - a lesbian - shares his room.

Martine comes for a brief visit, but when Xavier says he can't afford to reciprocate on her birthday, she calls him to break off their relationship, accusing him of being selfish and incapable of love. Meanwhile, Isabelle teaches Xavier the techniques of pleasuring a female, which he then tries on repressed Anne-Sophie.

Wendy's frolicsome younger brother William (Kevin Bishop) comes for a lengthy sojourn, causing some ill feelings; but when Wendy's British boyfriend Alistair arrives unannounced while she's having an affair with an American, everyone in the apartment communicates with each other in a frantic effort to avert disaster with William saving the day with a hilariously heroic stunt.

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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