Crime and banishment

ANOTHER film in which characters find themselves in an unfamiliar environment is the French Welcome to the Sticks.

Zoe Felix and Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks

Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis) (M) 3 stars Limited national release ANOTHER film in which characters find themselves in an unfamiliar environment is the French Welcome to the Sticks.

Writer and director Dany Boon had a high profile in France as a playwright and stand-up comedian before this film became an unprecedented smash hit earlier this year, filling cinemas up and down the country. What works in France, of course, doesn't necessarily work elsewhere and it doesn't seem likely that the film will travel well, largely because it's a one-joke movie that is hard to translate.

Kad Merad, a comic with a wonderfully sour disposition, plays Philippe, who manages a post office in a small town in Provence; his wife, Julie (Zoe Felix), is urging him to get a posting to the Riviera coast and, desperate to please her, Philippe makes the mistake of claiming to have a disability to secure the coveted situation.

He is, of course, found out and, as a punishment (obviously the French postal service has a sense of humour), is banished for two years to Bergues, in the area known as Nord-Pas-de-Calais where the weather is cold and the locals speak with a near-impenetrable accent.

Much of the fun of this very comfortable and familiar film is derived from the local slang, and translating it has proved a challenge for the English subtitler. Otherwise, there are few prizes for guessing that Philippe will get to like his new home, despite his initial misgivings, and that he will find a close friend in Antoine, an amiable postman, played by the director.

Boon hails from this chilly part of France and the film is an affectionate salute to his roots. Its French title, Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis refers to the dialect spoken in the area, ch'ti, also known as Picard, a mixture of French and Flemish with odd bits of Latin thrown in.

It's certainly a very pleasant film, but not in any sense a remarkable one.