Rooms on Film: L'Auberge Espagnole/La Poupees Russes

the end of innocence: youth, beauty and casual sex in barcelona

If you've read some of my other Rooms on Film posts, you know that I enjoy the odd foreign flick. IFC Channel is pretty damn great on that score, especially when it comes to French films. It has served up a sort of random and surprising peek beyond Hollywood into some very different notions about storytelling and... other sensibilities. (If you've ever sat through Mon Ange, you know what I'm talking about.) So, two fun flicks that feature cute, casual homes are "L'Auberge Espagnole," 2002 (The Spanish Apartment) and the sequel "Les Poupees Russes," 2006 (Russian Dolls). 

Starring Frenchman Romain Duris, we follow a college grad as he goes to Barcelona to learn Spanish and Finance in a year-long exchange program. Along with his half-dozen roommates from all over the world, Xavier gets up to some hilarious hijinks most involving infidelities of some kind. If you ever get the chance, you really should catch them. There are scenes that will make you lay down laughing no matter how long it's been since you were that age. You just sort of relate fondly to their absurd predicaments and attempts to grow and learn.