Movie Review: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (a.k.a Welcome to the Land of Shtis)

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis a.k.a Welcome to the Sticks a.k.a Welcome to the Land of Shtis

Pathé Renn Productions, Hirsch, Les Productions du Chicon, TF1 Films Production, Canal+, Centre National de la Cinématographie, Centre Régional des Ressources Audiovisuelles, CinéCinéma, Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, 2008.

Post office administrator Philippe Abrams (Kad Merad) wants a transfer to Sanary to make his depressed wife Julie (Zoé Félix) and son Raphaël (Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret) happy. His friend and superior Jean (Stéphane Freiss) is trying to help him get transferred. The transfer is denied and he tries a scam but is caught immediately. As a punishment Philippe is sent to work in northern town Bergues.

Julie and Philippe Abrams

Jean

The people in Bergues speak weird dialect, the climate is harsh and food is strange. Philippe travels there alone because his family does not want to freeze to death. In Bergues he is welcomed by postal worker Antoine Bailleul (Dany Boon). There he is temporarily forced to live in Bailleul's home. Antoine lives with his bossy mom (Line Renaud). In the post-office work also jovial office workers Fabrice Canoli (Philippe Duquesne) and Yann Vandernoout (Guy Lecluyse) and also Bailleul's ex-crush Annabelle (Anne Marivin).

Dany Boon

Yann Vandernoout and Fabrice Canoli

Annabelle and Antoine's mom

At first it is terrible for Philippe but the co-workers are nice folk despite some initial difficulties. He also gets a crash course in local dialect. His wife thinks that Philippe is lying when he says that Bergues is not so bad place after all, so Philippe has to keep on telling tall stories about the terrible redneck north. Bailleul is too nice guy and has a drinking problem so Philippe decides to help him. It does not work as expected. Fun things happen.

A hard beginning maketh a good ending

What the southern French people think about the people in north

As most of the exported French cinema nowadays are either serious drama, gritty thrillers or brutal horror, it is refreshing to see a feel-good local comedy. "Bienvenue" is warm-hearted comedy drama. The actors have good chemistry and it is easy to like them. The comedian Dany Boon is born in the Chti region, so there is lots of hometown fondness involved. Will Smith was interested in making an American remake, but the project was cancelled.

This was a very popular film in France. It satirizes the French regional stereotypes. Much of the humour is based on the Chti-dialect, so something is bound to be lost in the translation. Still it sounds like French with a serious lisp, and also the gestures of the actors help. English subtitles work very well, and the puns seem capture the essence of the jokes so kudos for the translator Michael Katims.

The Edition preCH'TIge 2 DVD published in France contains lots of extras and making of documentaries including a where Boon and Merad walk around Bergues wearing fake beards and episode of French "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" with film's stars. Unfortunately the extras are not subtitled, so they are more fun for those who know French (I don't).

Rating: Very good

Starring: Kad Merad, Dany Boon, Zoé Félix, Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret, Anne Marivin, Philippe Duquesne, Guy Lecluyse, Line Renaud, Michel Galabru, Stéphane Freiss, Patrick Bosso, Jérôme Commandeur, Alexandre Carrière, Fred Personne. Franck Andrieux, Jean-Christophe Herbeth, Jean-François Picotin, Jenny Clève, Claude Talpaert, Sylviane Goudal, Yaël Boon, Christophe Rossignon, Zinedine Soualem, Maryline Delbarre, Guillaume Morand, Yann Königsberg, Nadège Beausson-Diagne, Jean-François Elberg, Eric Bleuzé, Bruno Tuchszer, Mickaël Angele, Patrick Cohen, Louisette Douchin, Jean-Marc Vauthier, Cédric Magyari, Théo Behague, Mathieu Sophys, Laëtitia Maisonhaute, Suzie Pilloux (as Suzy Pillou)

Director: Dany Boon