L'Auberge Espagnole at the Film Series Europa 2022

With France assuming the presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2022, the French Embassy sets off a series of European cinema headed by a Spanish-French movie.

The French Embassy celebrates the beginning of the French Presidency of the European Union on January 1st, 2022, with Cedric Klapisch’s dramatic comedy L’Auberge Espagnole (2002) to launch a film series celebrating E.U. in its diversity and beauty.

Miguel Albero, the cultural counselor of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C. will make a brief introduction of the film before the screening.

L’Auberge Espagnole (Pot Luck)

• On Tuesday, February 8 at 7 pm.
• Directed by Cédrik Klapisch, France/Spain, 2001, 122 minutes. In French with English subtitles.

Xavier is in his twenties and studies economics. He seems to have everything to be happy: a girlfriend who has loved him for four years, Martine, and a good job in the Ministry of the Economy which awaits him. Only one condition remains, he must improve his Spanish. Thus, he decides to let Martine wait for him in Paris while he leaves to live in Barcelona for a year through the Erasmus program. Xavier looks for accommodation and eventually finds an apartment in the center of town that he plans to share with seven other people, each from a different country. Once installed, the adventure begins…

With this portrait of the youth in a time of globalization, Klapisch stages a universal initiatory path through living scenes and warm tones: the journey, the necessary uprooting, the discovery of the world, at such a crucial time in life. In a happy linguistic mess, the colorful and endearing characters take us on a fun and moving adventure that dreamily depicts those years of unforeseen events, where one lives as much in the future as in the present. In an always inventive and elegant staging, this film offers a great breath of fresh air, which makes you want to embrace life even more.