Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

akash_sebastian It's a fun and delicious European mix; it has an array of different and intriguing characters from various nationalities. The exploratory nature of college life, and the delight to spend it in a different country with a range of people is shown quite well in the movie.Having so many different languages in the movie itself was a fun and unique idea, and it was handled quite well. All the actors involved are good, and acted quite commendably.College life comes only once in our life; the things we learn and explore during that phase really shapes us. Through the lead character Xavier, we are allowed to experience all that all over again.The movie is observant, funny, and witty. Various situations among the housemates, and Xavier running around hiding his affair, there are many delightful moments. The most memorable and hilarious scene for me would be the one where all the friends run towards the apartment so that Wendy's boyfriend Alister doesn't find out that she's fooling around with an American guy at the house.

n-mo Whether you like this movie depends on several factors: first, understanding and appreciation of the various idiosyncratic stereotypes of contrasting European nations and the different microcultures therein, because nearly all the humor and conflict in the movie turns on these points, and second, your tolerance threshold for pieces that rely on stage or screen ambiance to make up for weak plots, because the filmmakers are definitely betting on their ability to sell ambiance and don't even try to present a decent plot.On the first point, I definitely "got" the subtle contrasts and jokes of the various nationalities, though I didn't find them to be particularly "funny." Maybe the problem was that I didn't grow up in Europe and my prior knowledge of the various reference points such as the Castilian vs. Catalan or Walloon vs. Fleming tensions had been gleaned from books. Or maybe it was that the various nationalities were not appropriately incarnated in any form beyond shallow stereotypes (more on that below).On the second point, I will definitely grant that the thrill of watching good characters, setting and atmosphere can make up for a soggy story. The problem was that I had a hard time getting into the ambiance. The characters - including the main character Xavier - weren't people I could relate to. The personalities aren't explored very deeply and the conclusion for Xavier is just totally Deus ex Machina, not simply plot-wise (that would be excusable) but character-wise as well. When they roommates in this apartment - each of a different European nationality - are among themselves, their cultures really aren't delineated beyond a couple of light stories and various mother tongues and accents: they're all drawn on that predictable clichéd Bourgeois Bohemian wrap and the atmosphere in their apartment isn't much more interesting than a typical cannabis light-up.Neither is the atmosphere outside particularly captivating, at least not to me. Erasmus fanatics or hipster types might gawk at the Barcelonian backdrop. To me, Barcelona isn't a particularly beautiful or inspiring city, and while it does have its lovely spots, the film steers focuses a lot more on the BoBo and Eurocratic trappings that, again, a Bourgeois Bohemian might well LOVE, but which I simply cannot relate to.Back in 2006-07 I uncharitably described this movie as something like "pornography for International Relations students." I have mellowed somewhat with age, but I think that judgment is not totally inaccurate, at least judging from the reactions and the demographics of the sorts of people who liked this movie. The ending seems to suggest a sort of idealization of European unity in the form of the E.U. and an irreversible mixing of the various European hipsters. But international relations is more than learning to party with people of a different mother tongue without offending them, I'm afraid. If this is the future of a united Europe, we might want to rethink our approach.

malebranche I think anyone who when young has moved to a foreign city, especially alone, would immediately recognize and appreciate the truths apparent in this film. Certainly everyone's experiences are different but some things, the initial disorientation, the difficulties and pleasure of adapting to a new and very different set of friends, the joys of eventual acceptance and adaption of a new routine; these are probably universal. This film depicts all of this very well.The Spanish Apartment rings especially true for me. Almost ten years ago I moved from NYC to Antwerp for one year then on to Barcelona, where I am living still. I was a bit older than the film's characters (late 20 's) but my experience was eerily similar. I lived just blocks away from their apartment, in Raval, and recognized many of the streets and locales. Myself, a Slovak girl I was dating, three male apartment mates from Bolivia, France and Italy. I made tons of expat friends from all over Europe (many of whom departed long ago) and eventually Spanish friends as well.I'm older now and settled down but watching this, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia and wished that I could travel back in time if only to relive one of those glorious weekends.If you've never done anything like this watching The Spanish Apartment may be the next best thing. The Barcelona tourist office should probably pay me for this.

BernardoLima L'auberg espagnole tells the story of Xavier, a french student that in order to secure a job has to learn Spanish and know the Spanish financial market inside out. The only way to do this is to live in Spain, so he applies for the Erasmus program and moves to Spain where he lives for one year in a small flat with a bunch of other students, all of them from different countries.Xavier gets along with his room mates just fine and makes quick friends wherever he goes. He also gets in a relationship with an older woman despite having a girlfriend in France. The film is all about the adventures of this students while living in Spain and the changes in Xavier's life in this one year period. The premise of the film is interesting but it turned out to be a bit of a mess...we have all this characters speaking different languages at the same time( not that I didn't understand,it was just too messy) plus the plot drifts way too much and the acting was cringe-worthy at times.Not every time but there were a few "embarrassing" scenes.Nevertheless it was fun to watch this students and their adventures.Its a quirky,fun, lighthearted movie but its just average.6/10