Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis

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Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis
Welcome to the Land of Shtis[1]

Official movie poster (France)
Directed by Dany Boon
Produced by Claude Berri
Jérôme Seydoux
Pathé
Hirsch
Les Productions du Chicon
TF1 Films Production
Written by Dany Boon
Alexandre Charlot
Franck Magnier
Starring Dany Boon
Kad Merad
Zoé Félix
Music by Philippe Rombi
Distributed by Pathé Distribution
Release date(s) February 20, 2008 (Northern France)
February 27, 2008 (France)
Running time 106 min.
Country France
Language French
Ch'ti
Budget 11 million euros
Official website
IMDb profile

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis[2] (English: Welcome to the Land of Shtis[1]) is a 2008 French motion picture comedy starring Kad Merad, Dany Boon and Zoé Félix. The film has broken nearly every box office record in France: it debuted as the top movie with US$31.67 million at 793 sites.[3] As of 15 April 2008, the film had been seen by over 19.9 million people in eleven weeks, thereby breaking the record of La Grande Vadrouille (released in 1966) and is expected to overtake Titanic (1997) as the most successful film ever released in France. The film has grossed over US$180 million in France alone.[4]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Philippe Abrams is manager of the postal service (La Poste) in Salon-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, in southern France. He is married to Julie, whose depressive character makes his life miserable. Philippe does everything to get a job at an office on the Mediterranean seaside to make her happy. However, he cons a postal inspector to get the position he wants and gets caught in the act. As punishment, he is banished to Bergues, a town near near Dunkirk in northern France, for two years. Northern France, and specifically the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, is considered "the sticks" – a cold and rainy, unsophisticated place, filled with yokels (called ch'tis, i.e. Northern French people) who speak a strange, barely understandable dialect (called "ch'ti" or "cheutimi" according to Southern French people).

To Philippe's surprise, Bergues is a charming place teaming with warm, friendly people and co-workers. Soon, he is completely won over, eating smelly Maroilles cheese and drinking beer like a local. He tries to describe the happy turn of events to his wife who has remained in the South with his child, but she absolutely refuses to believe him. This inspires Philippe to tell her "the truth", that is, what she wants to believe is true.

Everything goes fine until Julie becomes so convinced by the impressions of his wretched life that she decides to join him in the North to relieve his gloom. Philippe is forced to confess to his new friends and colleagues that he has described them as barbarians to his wife. He begs them to behave as such to cover for his lies and to scare Julie so she will depart quickly. Philippe's comrades throw themselves into the masquerade and give Julie the worst weekend of her life, with comic (and sexy) results.

[edit] Adaptation

Main article: Welcome to the Sticks

On May 20, 2008 it surfaced that Dany Boon was in the process of signing a deal with Will Smith to make an English adaptation of the film. This new film will be baptised Welcome to the Sticks.[5] At the moment it is not clear who the actors will be or the exact nature of the plot but there have been hints that part of the plot will revolve around a multinational company.[6]

[edit] Controversy

In May 2008, the film became the subject of controversy due to the remarks of Jean-Marie Le Pen on France 5. Le Pen claimed that he didn't like the movie and that the people of Nord-Pas-de-Calais do not look like the two main characters of the movie. He then added that "this is normal, since both of them are Arabs."

[edit] Cast

  • Dany Boon - Antoine Bailleul, postman and carillon performer
  • Kad Merad - Philippe Abrams, Head of the local postoffice
  • Zoé Félix - Julie, spouse of Philippe Abrams
  • Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret - Raphaël Abrams
  • Anne Marivin - Annabelle Deconninck
  • Philippe Duquesne - Fabrice Canoli
  • Guy Lecluyse - Yann Vandernoout
  • Patrick Bosso - Policeman on A7
  • Zinedine Soualem - Momo
  • Jérôme Commandeur - Inspector Lebic
  • Line Renaud - Antoine's mother
  • Michel Galabru - Julie's uncle
  • Stéphane Freiss - Jean
  • Alexandre Carrière - Tony
  • Jenny Clève - The old lady who sings the P'tit Quinquin (Northern French hymn)
  • Fred Personne - M. Vasseur
  • Christophe Rossignon
  • Guillaume Morand

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ a b [1] IMDB: Also Known As "Welcome to the Land of Shtis" (festival title)
  2. ^ The French word Ch'tis is slang for someone from Northern France. See Picard language.
  3. ^ France Box Office (February 27-March 2, 2008) at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
  4. ^ Box Office Mojo
  5. ^ Les Ch'tis americains (pg 17). Grenoble&moi. Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
  6. ^ Will Smith va co-produire un remake du film "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis". Le Matin Online. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.

[edit] External links