Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis (2008)
Dir. Dany Boon
Cast: Dany Boon, Kad Merad, Zoé Félix, Anne Marivin
This film has taken over the French box-office this spring, a complete surprise success. Dany Boon is well known in France for his stand-up comedy, and he moves seamlessly onto film here. He brings his unique brand of visual and coloquial humour to the film, and his cast are absolutely brilliant.
The story follows the life of Phillipe Abrams (Merad) who has recetly been forced to move from the warm, beautiful South of France to Nord-pas-de-Calais for his job as manager of the local Post Office. He and his wife prepare for the worst - freezing conditions, simple people and definately no fun. However, the group that Phillipe meets, are warm and welcoming, no frills, laid back kind of people who become his best friends. They life a life full of riotous laughs and ridiculous situations that must be kept from Phillipe's wife who has become much more loving in the light of her husband's 'traumatic' new work situation.
The film is full of laughter, visual and verbal gags - even the title plays with the differences between the French accent in the north and south - and clichés about the north-south divide. It is very easy to watch, even if your French is not that good. The wordplay is hilarious and perhaps some of the funniest scenes revolve around a misunderstanding of the spoken word. However, it is during the four-minutes it takes for Phillipe and Antoine (Boon) to get completely plastered while doing the daily post round, that you completely fall in love with the whole film.
Rating: ***** 5/5
Recommendation: Try and pick up as much French as you can, but just enjoy the superb humour and warmth of this wonderful gem!
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