by MARK SLUTSKY

It's hard to describe a movie like L'Auberge espagnole without making it sound corny. The latest from French director Cédric Klapisch (Chacun cherche son chat) is a multi-culti fantasy set in an exotic locale, the kind of thing that could easily be lamely quirky or life-affirming; truth is, though, that it's somehow an incredibly entertaining and funny movie that only really suffers from a vague ending.

L'Auberge is set in the beautiful town of Barcelona, and takes place over a year, mostly in and around an apartment shared by a crew of international students from across Europe. Romain Duris plays the film's central character, a semi-geeky 25-year-old Parisian who sets out to study business in Spain on the advice of a family friend, and moves into the shared flat. Nothing particularly momentous happens - everyone smokes pot, hangs out, goes out drinking and the like. Duris struggles with his long-distance relationship (his girlfriend being Amélie's Audrey Tautou) whom he obsesses about, along with various other women he encounters while in Barcelona.

Pleasingly, Klapisch doesn't feel the pressure to pile on the drama. This movie is first and foremost a comedy, and a pretty funny one at that, though not one reliant on contrived gags or idiotic characters. There is one sequence that borders on farcical, involving a surprise visit by one character's boyfriend, but it's pulled off amazingly naturally.

The movie's naturalness, and probably its effectiveness, derives largely from its many small, believable details, like the way the seven strangers bond in that immediate way that seems particular to ex-pat friendships. Klapisch even acknowledges the linguistic tension in both the apartment and in Barcelona itself, which shares two languages, Spanish and Catalan (in a way not too dissimilar from Montreal).

One complaint: Klapisch ends the movie on an upbeat note, when it really deserves (and seems to be heading for) a more bittersweet conclusion. It comes across as false, though it doesn't ruin an otherwise fine movie. :

L'Auberge espagnole opens Friday, March 21

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