L'auberge espagnole
Xavier (Romain Duris), a 24-year-old French student, leaves his country for the ERASMUS programme in Barcelona as part of his professional pursuits, despite it being against the wishes of his girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou). On the flight there, he meets a young French couple, a doctor and his wife (Anne-Sophie), who let him stay in their home while he searches for an apartment. Xavier manages to find an apartment with other students from England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Denmark, creating an ambiance of chaos and culture shock. The roommates begin to develop a unique companionship as they struggle together through their cultural and linguistic challenges in their program. Martine pays Xavier a visit and returns disappointed when she realizes things are not the same. Meanwhile, Xavier develops a romantic affair with the French doctor's wife, seducing her using tips he has been learning from his Belgian lesbian roommate, Isabelle (Cécile de France). The English roommate Wendy's brother William visits for some time and turns out to be quite abrasive with his culturally insensitive comments, creating tension among the roommates. Martine eventually breaks up with Xavier, bringing him to depression and hallucinations. When Xavier seeks the French doctor's advice, the doctor reveals that Anne-Sophie confessed everything to him, and tells Xavier to stop seeing her. As discord among the roommates escalates, their friendship is repaired as they team up to help Wendy elude a sticky situation (her boyfriend Alister makes a surprise visit while she was hooking up with an American). After leaving Barcelona and bidding farewell to his many close friends, Xavier returns to Paris and gets the job at the Ministry, but realizes he misses his experiences that now have made him a different person. 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.
comedy