In my opinion, one of the major flaws with L’Auberge espagnole was that it has a tendency to be unfocused and trite. Klapisch had a penchant for throwing in cinematic flourishes that did little but “look cool” and served no real purpose in the film. Like many young filmmakers, he seemed to be in love with style over substance. Call it the Guy Ritchie influence, if you will. But this time around, Klapisch shows a much better grasp of his medium. The flourishes aren’t nearly so gimmicky. The effects, for the most part, serve to advance the story. It’s easy to see a Jean-Pierre Jeunet influence at several points, and his storytelling has moved from Ritchie toward something more like Bergman or Paul Thomas Anderson. Essentially what we’re seeing is a filmmaker mature before our very eyes.

It seems clear enough that Klapisch’s goal with the character of Xavier is to turn him into the second coming of François Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel — an ambitious feat, to be sure. But what might be interesting is if he uses the rest of the Barcelona crew to branch out into their stories, to explore love through the eyes of all Europe, in a way. Regardless, the potential is there for Klapisch to have, in twenty years, a series of films that vaults him into the realm of great filmmakers. The individual films themselves may not be masterpieces, but something tells me the Xavier story, seen as a whole, could become great cinema. The state of film in the world indicates that the next twenty years or so could have some interesting, character-driven multi-film sagas that serve as a wonderful contrast to Hollywood’s penchant for superhero franchises. Here’s hoping Klapisch is up to the task.

Starring: Romain Duris, Kelly Reilly, Audrey Tautou, Kevin Bishop, and Cécile De France
Written and directed by: Cédric Klapisch
NR, 125 min, 2006, France