as a movie extolling the virtues of a european clash of cultures skillfully intertwining, this movie as first-rate. if you go hoping to see more of audrey tautou's beautiful face you are in for disappointment as her role is slim. but it's fun to watch 8/9 pretty europeans of different nationalities sit around their apartment in spain and discuss life, love, sex, and philosophy of the disposessed and the legacy of country wrongs carried in the blood of it's children. very much a thinking movie with very little action or exciting camera work. simple, plain, unadorned other than with the fanciful nature of the cast and situation inspired.