Arquivo

Xavier is a Frenchman on his way to Spain to complete his studies in economics and learn to speak Spanish. The language is necessary if he is to hold a job promised him by a friend of his father`s in the Ministry of Finance. Xavier bids farewell to his possessive girlfriend, Martine, with promises of eternal love. He rents an apartment in the center of Barcelona that he plans to share with others. Each of the seven sub-tenants is from a different country. He copes with an annoying Englishman, is given advice by a Belgian lesbian, and sees his priorities fading away with each passing day. He decides he really wants to be a writer and falls in love with a married woman. Xavier returns to France and finds himself obliged to decide whether he will return to his former life or follow his heart. The scriptwriter and director Klapisch did to Barcelona what he did to Paris in When the Cat’ Away (1996): he transformed the city into an eternal monument to sun and to love, a place for changes where people have a second chance.