Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
"Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" (original title)

Although living a comfortable life in Salon-de-Provence, a charming town in the South of France, Julie has been feeling depressed for a while. To please her, Philippe Abrams, a post office ... See full summary »

Director:

Dany Boon

Writers:

Dany Boon, Alexandre Charlot,

Stars:

Kad Merad, Dany Boon, Zoé Félix

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kad Merad	...	Philippe Abrams
Dany Boon	...	Antoine Bailleul
Zoé Félix	...	Julie Abrams
Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret	...	Raphaël Abrams
Anne Marivin	...	Annabelle Deconninck
Philippe Duquesne	...	Fabrice Canoli
Guy Lecluyse	...	Yann Vandernoout
Line Renaud	...	La maman d'Antoine
Michel Galabru	...	Le grand oncle de Julie
Stéphane Freiss	...	Jean Sabrier
Patrick Bosso	...	Le gendarme A7
Jérôme Commandeur	...	L'inspecteur Lebic
Alexandre Carrière	...	Tony - l'amoureux d'Isabelle
Fred Personne	...	M. Vasseur
Frank Andrieux	...	M. Leborgne (as Franck Andrieux)

Storyline

Although living a comfortable life in Salon-de-Provence, a charming town in the South of France, Julie has been feeling depressed for a while. To please her, Philippe Abrams, a post office administrator, her husband, tries to obtain a transfer to a seaside town, on the French Riviera, at any cost. The trouble is that he is caught red-handed while trying to scam an inspector. Philippe is immediately banished to the distant unheard of town of Bergues, in the Far North of France. Leaving his child and wife behind, the crucified man leaves for his frightening destination, a dreadfully cold place inhabited by hard-drinking, unemployed rednecks, speaking an incomprehensible dialect called Ch'ti. Philippe soon realizes that all these ideas were nothing but prejudices and that Bergues is not synonymous with hell...

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Plot Keywords:

prejudice | post | dialect | post office | beer | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [ru]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

27 February 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Welcome to the Sticks

Filming Locations:

Autoroute A7, France

Box Office

Budget:

€11,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pathé Renn Productions, Hirsch, Les Productions du Chicon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Instead of using well known dialects for the German dubbed version, the dubbing studio created a completely new fictional dialect with as much similarity to the original French ch'ti dialect as possible.

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Crazy Credits

after the movie, while the closing credits scroll over the screen, some outtakes are shown.

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Connections

Remade as Welcome to the Sticks

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Soundtracks

"Le p'tit Quinquin"
Written by Alexandre Desrousseaux
Sung by Jenny Clève (1853)

User Reviews

A movie everyone can love.

I saw this movie in Lille, France, two weeks after the premiere, and the movie theaters were full. Everyone wanted to see it. (After two weeks, 15 million viewers. That's a lot.) Even though they sometimes spoke Ch'ti it was quite easy to understand, and many parts would have been funny in any language. I really recommend everyone to see it, no matter if you speak French or not. Many of the jokes with words (jeu de mots) are only comprehensible if you speak French, but it's still great. The point with the movie isn't just the language, another aspect is the prejudices the Southerns have about the Northerns. Which can be found in many more countries than France. I really think that it's a movie everyone can find something to like about. Maybe the French over-hyped it, but it's still a superb movie.