Julia is a real estate agent in the developing process of a homeowner community in Madrid who discovers a hidden treasure of 300 million ₧ after the rotting corpse of a deceased man in the apartment above the flat she's meant to sell is removed. Julia takes all the money for herself and makes plans for the luxurious life this treasure will bring her, but unfortunately she'll soon find out that the dead man's neighbors are not only aware of the money's existence, but are willing to take extreme measures in order to get their hands on it...
La Comunidad was a box office hit, becoming the highest grossing Spanish film of the year 2000, and was positively received by critics, with Carmen Maura's performance as Julia earning her a Silver Shell and a Goya Award for Best Actress.
La Comunidad contains examples of:
- Animal Motifs: Earlier on TV a nature documentary talks about how a vulture finding a carcass to eat will immediately attract a large grouping of hungry vultures. This pretty much reflects the actions of the movie's characters.
- Animated Credits Opening: Done in the style of an Alfred Hitchcock film and 007 movies.
- Apartment Complex of Horrors: Of the mundane type. The residents Julia deals with at the apartment block where the film takes place go from being creepy, obnoxious and invasive before revealing murderous intent.
- Asshole Victim: Emilio, Oswaldo and Ramona get their just desserts, but the death of Castro, who manages to be the rudest and most mean-spirited out of a cast of greedy bastard neighbors, will invoke no sympathies.
- Ax-Crazy: Julia holds Hortensia at knifepoint when she learns what's up. During the climax despite all the talk about them being a community, each neighbor decides to go for the money bag all for themselves, resulting in Castro fighting Oswaldo and causing his Disney Villain Death to get to Julia first, only to be shot dead by Ramona who then threatens the others not to follow her in order to go after Julia alone.
- Bait-and-Switch: There's an anxious build-up for Julia and the audience when she struggles to open the door within the dingy apartment block... only to be pleased at the reveal that the flat she's supposed to be selling is very clean and luxurious.
- Balcony Escape: Julia is forced to do this when the neighbors storm her apartment.
- Big Damn Kiss: Charly has a quick one with Julia before the Roof Hopping commences.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Julia is our protagonist who fights for her life against a group of crazies, but she's a Shady Real Estate Agent who doesn't change and gets away with everything in the end.
- Break Them by Talking: Julia teases on Emilio after his Motive Rant, accusing him that he's not the noble man he thinks he is and that he truly wants to keep all the money to himself and leave his oh-so-beloved wife and kids because with all that wealth he'd have no reason to stick around.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Julia nervously lights up a cigarette after calculating that the dead man's hidden treasure consists in whopping 300 million pesetas.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Downplayed, but Castro's wife expresses annoyance towards her husband spending more time with Ramona.
- Clothing Damage: Julia's outfit gets ripped and roughed up when she tries to evade the attacks from the murderous neighbors.
- Creepy Cockroach: Julia and Ricardo's make out on a waterbed is rudely interrupted by cockroaches from the above floor (where the deceased man is rotting) falling down through a hole in the ceiling.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Domínguez dies when he's struggling to get out of a faulty elevator which then breaks and tumbles down bisecting him to the horror of the present.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Charly ends up revealing himself to be more resourceful than the whole cast gave him credit for, planning out a successful escape for himself and Julia in the ending.
- Dance Party Ending: In the finale Julia and Charly decide to dance to the music at the pub where they meet.
- Dark Action Girl: Much like Terele Pávez's previous role as Rosario in The Day of the Beast, Ramona proves to be this during the climax, taking a huge leap between buildings that is both parts hysterical and ridiculously badass for a woman her age.
- Death by Materialism: Emilio, Oswaldo, Castro and Ramona die during their unhinged chase for the dead man's money.
- Disney Villain Death: Darkly subverted. Oswaldo and Ramona die by falling off great heights, but the usual Gory Discretion Shot that comes with a Disney villain death is avoided and we actually get to see them splattering onto the ground.
- Dirty Old Man: Castro's wife complains about his lack of commitment and the way they spend their nights just watching porn, to which Ramona responds with Too Much Information.
- Dramatic Thunder: There's a Thunderous Underline variant during Emilio's Motive Rant, when he reveals that the deceased man got the money through football pools... against Real Sociedad! *BOOOM*
- "Eureka!" Moment: Julia finds a strange piece of paper in the belongings of the dead man that shows a checkered pattern with a blank square. After seeing a TV ad for Mr. Clean she realizes it's a clue that indicates under which tile of his checkered flooring he hid the money.
- Evil Old Folks: Several residents of the apartment, especially Ramona and Castro, who's shown earlier on armed with big kitchen knife to confront Julia and is very frustrated with Emilio's Affably Evil approach, lamenting that he would've already solved everything in his way. Ramona kills him and then goes full Giggling Villain while terrorizing Julia during their final confrontation.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The wind-up Darth Vader toy Julia finds before the climax serves as this to Charly, who shortly after shows up in his Vader costume to help her escape from the neighbors.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Emilio takes a sip after beating Julia down before he starts his lengthy Motive Rant.
- Karmic Death: Castro suddenly fights and kills Oswaldo to get to Julia first, and ends up getting the same treatment from Ramona, who then dies when Julia tosses the phony bag of money into her arms making her stumble backwards and fall to her death.
- Latin Lover: Oswaldo, the resident dance instructor from Cuba who manages to seduce Julia to aid the community's search for the dead man's body.
- Loose Floorboard Hiding Spot: The deceased man hid his treasure inside the pavement of his floor, accessible through a loose tile that is white where it should be black to fit the rest of the checkered tiles.
- A MacGuffin Full of Money: The film's Plot Device is a huge amount of money left by a deceased man, which Julia stuffs into a suitcase everyone will go after.
- Manchild: Charly, a socially awkward man who still lives with his mother and often dresses up like Darth Vader.
- May–December Romance: Castro is older than his wife Karina, and their actors have an age gap of 27 years. He isn't very interested or even respectful to her, though.
- Mirthless Laughter: Julia lets out one upon finding a small wind-up Darth Vader toy the following morning after experiencing a mild Trauma Conga Line to avoid getting caught by the neighbors.
- Ms. Fanservice: Julia is played by a 55 year old Carmen Maura, but she proves to be carrying her age well during the Shower Scene.
- Monumental Battle: Julia and Ramona facing off among the feet of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya's Roman quadriga statue fits the bill.
- Motive Rant: Emilio has a lengthy one in which he explains Julia that she's ruining his long gestating plan for which he gave up on a lot in order to stay around the apartment and wait for the death of the man who collected that huge money prize, but all he does is revealing how pathetically entitled he is towards him, acting like he deserved some of it for being neighbors.
- Nice to the Waiter: In the end Charly gives Quique, a snarky but amicable waiter, a generous tip to make him leave.
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Julia is unimpressed by Emilio's Motive Rant, pointing out how he's just as greedy as he accuses the deceased man of being and how deep down he too wants to keep the money all to himself and took advantage of the neighbors for his plan, on the logic that splitting the money wouldn't leave him with a lot.
- Ramona rants to Julia that she's no different than her and the other neighbors for clinging to the money bag.
- Not Quite Dead: Emilio apparently dies from Accidental Murder when Julia makes him slip in self-defense into a bathtub and he violently hits his head against the tap, forcing her to resort to an Of Corpse He's Alive stunt to hide him from some clients visiting the apartment, only to reveal to have survived it and continue his assault until she bashes him to death with a lamp.
- Pink Means Feminine: Julia's main attire is a light pink suit and skirt.
- The Peeping Tom: Charly. He's introduced early on through a Binocular Shot. Later he spies on Julia showering and gets off to her.
- Professional Slacker: Julia isn't the greatest real estate agent to say the least, Ricardo is the one who provides the most working as a nightclub bouncer while Julia takes advantage of her position to use and comfortably live at the lavish apartment she should be keeping in pristine state and sell.
- Put on a Bus: Ricardo. He breaks up with Julia right as she's about to tell him of the cash treasure she found, having the worst timing ever to callously rant about her constant failures after a stressful night. Julia decides not to say anything and lets him leave telling him that he can't fathom the huge mistake he's making. Afterwards he's never seen or mentioned again for the rest of the film.
- Rooftop Confrontation: The film's climax sees the murderous neighbors chasing Julia through the rooftops, culminating at the top of the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya building.
- Replaced with Replica: Charly gets away with the money because he switched Julia's bag with one filled with betting tickets.
- Say Your Prayers: When all hope seems lost for Julia and she's got nowhere to run, she begins praying right before Charly makes his presence known and helps her out.
- Shout-Out:
- Charly is a fan of Star Wars, which is highlighted further by the score playing a snippet from the Imperial March when he first shows up in a Darth Vader costume. He also has a Stormtrooper helmet and other merch in his Star Wars-ridden Poster-Gallery Bedroom and refers to Julia as "The Princess" during the climax. And the Spinning Paper also has a small announcement by him that reads "Jedi Knight needs Princess for a serious relationship. Julia, I need you, the Force is with me."
- Domínguez sings the Dead Man's Chest song from Treasure Island when Julia finds him digging into the trash of the dead man's apartment with a pickaxe.
- Ricardo boasts comparing himself to King Kong for standing the hellish job as a gorillanote for as long as he did before quitting.
- Hortensia's kid dresses up in a cheap Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger costume.
- Sore Loser: Really, at the end of the day the Big Bad Emilio is just this, he considers marking "X" (tie) at the football bets his biggest mistake due to the deceased man winning the jackpot instead of him.
- Spinning Paper: Towards the ending a spinning newspaper chronicles the aftermath of the climax. "A group of neighbors kill each other for money that doesn't exist".
- Time-Passes Montage: After Julia lays down in the attic following the escape from the murderous neighbors, the camera remains focused on her laying still while the lighting changes from nighttime to daytime to indicate the passage of time.
- Token Good Teammate: Charly may be a creep with his infatuation for Julia, but he is against taking part in Emilio's scheme and decides to help her when his mom and the community become Ax-Crazy.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: When Julia finds some money in the wallet of the deceased man, she rolls it up and stuffs it between her breasts.
- Villains Out Shopping: Earlier in the movie Emilio is absent due to taking his family to Disneyland Paris.
- We Need a Distraction: During the Rooftop Confrontation Charly buys Julia some time by making a Darth Vader scene in front of the neighbors and getting beaten by Oswaldo and Castro. Then he gets up and leaves with the real bag of money while the others are too busy fighting each other for the replica he set up.
