Product Details

• Actors: Dany Boon, Kad Merad, Zoe Felix, Line Renaud, Stephane Freiss
• Directors: Dany Boon
• Format: PAL, Subtitled
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001YLWOI0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #308,085 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Please note that this is a PAL, Region 2 DVD and requires PAL or multi-system capable DVD player. It will not play on standard North American DVD players. Please read the item technical description carefully. ----------------------------------- Synopsis:A man born and raised on France's Southern coast is exiled to the Northern territories in this comedy from actor, director and screenwriter Dany Boon. Philippe Abrams (Kad Merad) helps run the post office in a picturesque small town in the South of France. Philippe's wife Julie (Zoe Felix) has been down in the dumps, and he thinks one way to lift her spirits would be to relocate to the more glamorous surroundings of the Cote d'Azur. However, Philippe's attempts to finagle a transfer fail, and he ends up demoted -- he's sent to Bergues, a village in Northern France stuck between Belgium and England. Philippe is appalled at the news, and matters only get worse when he has to learn the local dialect, a strange bouillabaisse of French, Flemish and Latin dialects. Julie opts to stay behind, and as Philippe drowns his sorrows in beer on his first night in town, he nearly runs over a man while driving home drunk -- who turns out to be one of his new colleagues at the post office, Antoine Bailleul (Dany Boon). But Philippe finds to his surprise that he enjoys life in Bergues, and he becomes infatuated with Annabelle (Anne Marivin), a beautiful letter carrier. Philippe is pondering just what he should do about his feelings for Annabelle when he gets word from Julie that she's decided to join him in the unfashionable North. Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis was a major box office success in France, grossing over $200 million.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant French Farce with English Subtitles, June 4, 2009

By 

F. Mckenzie (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks) 2 DVD Special Edition / in French with English Subtitles [PAL, Region 2, Import] (DVD)

Thoroughly enjoyed this brilliant French comedy when I went to see it at a cinema in NZ. Tracking down a Region 2 copy to watch in the UK, however, proved much more difficult and I was thrilled when I managed to source this one from the US no less. Everything worked superbly and friends were much amused by the crazy antics of the mad men in . . . le Nord!

4.0 out of 5 stars Slight, but a great feelgood movie, September 10, 2010

By 

Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks) 2 DVD Special Edition / in French with English Subtitles [PAL, Region 2, Import] (DVD)

Dany Boon's Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis/Welcome to the Sticks became France's biggest box-office hit in record time when it pulled in over $184m in France alone, although it's made barely a ripple in the English-speaking world - a shame, because this good natured culture clash comedy is a lot of fun. Kad Merad is the post office manager who gets caught pretending to be disabled to secure a transfer to the South of France only to be given the worst punishment in the post office's power: a transfer to the cold north of France, the Toxteth or Detroit of France. Once there he quickly discovers that (unlike Toxteth) it's not the backward disease-ridden inbred peasant slum of popular ridicule, but finds that comforting his imagined suffering cheers up his depressed wife back home, so ends up persuading his new friends to live down to all the horror stories when she comes to visit...

It's not the most original plot or treatment in the world, with much of the wordplay built around the local accent that adds chti to every other word straight out of Abbott and Costello's Who's On First routine, but while predictable it's still very funny more often than not. The early scenes are among the funniest, be it Michel Galabru's Dickensian (or should that be Hugoian?) horror stories of a childhood in the north to the sympathetic traffic cop who tears up a ticket when he finds out the condemned man's destination, and the end is rather abrupt, but it's a confident feelgood comedy that delivers the goods. Kudos to Michael Katims' excellent subtitle adaptation that manages to pull off the tricky alliteration, puns and wordplay that a lesser translator might decide were simply untranslatable.

The French PAL 2-disc set offers a wealth of unsubtitled extras, from a few deleted scenes and outtakes to lengthy documentaries and a themed French episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionare, but the film itself boasts both optional English subtitles and a very good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer.