His film draws on the audience’s already existing experiences instead of introducing new ones. The French director, cited as a leading figure in ‘Pop Art Cinema,’ focused on European identity and the beauty of cultural differences (Mubi, 2021).
This likely affected the decision to make this film into a triology with the two follow ups Russian Dolls (2005) and Chinese Puzzle (2013). Although not a direct result of the film, the number of Erasmus students across Europe did increase by 125% between 20 (Erasmus+, 2021). The film follows Xavier and his new roommates, Wendy, Tobias, Alessandro, Soledad and Lars through their adventures of studying abroad.Ĭédric Klapisch’s fifth feature film was an immediate commercial success when it hit theaters in June of 2002 (Klapisch, 2021).
In need of a place to stay, he finds a group of international students in need of an extra roomate. Xavier, a French Economics student follows the advice of a successful corporate and applies for Erasmus to improve his Spanish in Barcelona.
