Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (2008)

Director:

Dany Boon

Writers:

Dany Boon (writer)
Alexandre Charlot (writer)

Release Date:

27 February 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

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...

Plot Keywords:

Bergues | Post | Post Office | Lille | Spoof

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

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)

Also Known As:

Welcome to the Land of Shtis (Europe: English title) (festival title)
Welcome to the Sticks (International: English title)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:6 | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/6 | Germany:o.Al. | UK:12A | Argentina:Atp | Hong Kong:IIA

Filming Locations:

Autoroute A7, France

Company:

Pathé Renn Productions

Trivia:

With 25.5 million euros, it holds the record for the highest first-week intake of a French movie in its home country. Former record holder was Les bronzés 3: amis pour la vie (2006).

Movie Connections:

Remade as Welcome to the Sticks (2010)

Soundtrack:

I just call (to say I love you)

Great film. Fantastic job with the subtitles

A really, really charming film. Charming being the word for movies with really simple plots, very down-to-earth stakes, and the ability to leave you with a big G-rated smile on your face afterwards. If you like cross-cultural fish-out-of-water movies such as My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, you're going to love this story of a postmaster who gets reassigned to the apparently misunderstood (in many senses) northern region of France, and how lives change accordingly.

But what really impressed me the most were the subtitles. The English subtitles amazingly captured all the nuances of the convoluted wordplay that was obviously happening on screen. This becomes an even more impressive feat when you consider that much of the verbal fun of the movie comes from the various misunderstandings between the French-speaking lead character and the folks who speak in the northern provincial "Schticks" dialect. Because of this added layer of complexity, I realized that capturing these dynamics cannot be the product of any ordinary clerical translation job.

And it turns out I was right. I later read that the director, Dany Boon, actually took an active role in ensuring that all the subtitles for the different languages properly and lovingly reflected the nuances and intent of the on screen banter. With truly impressive results.

So kudos to Boon for paying attention to this particular detail. Oftentimes, foreign audiences miss out on much of the seeming in-jokes that movies play for their local audiences. "Schticks" made it a point to share its world with everyone else. Great job.