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 (Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis)
In Cinemas Thursday [M]
Director: Dany Boon
Runtime: 106mins
Be prepared to laugh extremely hard in the new French film, Welcome To The Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis), which actually translates as Welcome to the Land of the Shtis. I will explain later what that means. Either way, Dany Boon has created a very funny film that will appeal to any nationality.
Postal manager Philippe (Kad Merad) puts in a request for a transfer to a beautiful town in the Riviera in an effort to save his marriage; but he is denied. He decides to speed up the process and get to the front of the list by pretending to be disabled. Unfortunately he is caught out and is posted to a village called Bergues in the dreaded North as punishment.
The North/South rivalry and prejudices are alive and well in France and the film explores this with great wit and good humour. Philipe and his wife Julie (Zoe Felix) are convinced that the northerners are pale, socially retarded, smelly cheese-eating alcoholics; so to be sent to live there for two years is positively repugnant. Philipe decides it would be better to go to the North without his wife and son and so he begins his journey to the village of Bergues. Philippe is warned by his well-travelled uncle that the people from this area known as Ch’timi speak with a distinct dialect that is hard to understand – for example, the French ‘s’ sounds become ‘ch’ and pronouns such as ‘toi’ and ‘moi’ become ‘ti’ and ‘mi’. The linguistic gags are hilarious and they are supported by excellent English subtitles so the non-French speakers are in on the joke as well.
Philippe’s first encounter with a northerner is with Antoine, played by the director himself, Dany Boon. Boon’s exaggerated accent and expressive face will keep you in stitches and when the two characters are together it is even more hilarious. Their comic timing is brilliant. As the film goes on, Philippe begins to fall in love with the quaint village and its friendly, welcoming inhabitants. He forms great friendships over french fries and football matches and he even learns the incomprehensible dialect. Like all good French films there is a twist, and panic sets in when Philippe’s wife decides to visit the town, which she mistakenly believes is utterly intolerable.
Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis) has been a box office smash hit in France and over 20 million French women and men have embraced Boon’s quirky and exuberant work. So should you!
****
GEMMA MUMFORD
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