text: **SPOILERS AHEAD**<br /><br />It is really unfortunate that a movie so well produced turns out to be<br /><br />such a disappointment. I thought this was full of (silly) clichés and<br /><br />that it basically tried to hard. <br /><br />To the (American) guys out there: how many of you spend your<br /><br />time jumping on your girlfriend's bed and making monkey<br /><br />sounds? To the (married) girls: how many of you have suddenly<br /><br />gone from prudes to nymphos overnight--but not with your<br /><br />husband? To the French: would you really ask about someone<br /><br />being "à la fac" when you know they don't speak French? Wouldn't<br /><br />you use a more common word like "université"? <br /><br />I lived in France for a while and I sort of do know and understand<br /><br />Europe (and I love it), but my (German) roommate and I found this<br /><br />pretty insulting overall. It looked like a movie funded by the<br /><br />European Parliament, and it tried too hard basically. It had all<br /><br />sorts of differences that it tried to tie together (not a bad thing in<br /><br />itself) but the result is at best awkward, but in fact ridiculous--too<br /><br />many clashes that wouldn't really happen. Then the end of the<br /><br />movie--the last 10 minutes--ruined all the rest. Why doesn't Xavier<br /><br />talk to the Erasmus students he meets back in Paris? Why does<br /><br />he just walk off? Why does he just run away from his job, is that<br /><br />"freedom"? And in the end, is the new Europe supposed to rest on<br /><br />a bunch of people who smoke up and shag all day? Is this what<br /><br />it's made up of? <br /><br />Besides, the acting was pretty horrible. I can't believe Judith<br /><br />Godrèche's role and acting. Why was she made to look like<br /><br />Emanuelle Béart so much? At first I thought Xavier was OK but<br /><br />with retrospect I think he was pretty bad. <br /><br />And that's all really too bad, because technically (opening credits,<br /><br />scenes when he's asking what papers he needs) it was really<br /><br />good (except for sound editing around the British siblings), and the<br /><br />soundtrack was great too. So the form was good, but the content<br /><br />pretty horrible.