RIPON FILM SOCIETY

Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis)

The Nord-Pas de Calais, has usually been seen in France as an industrial hellhole whose inhabitants, nicknamed Ch'tis, speak an indecipherable patois.

When a post office manager from Provence is relocated to a small town in the north, the prospect fills him with dread and panic.

But the town locals ultimately win him over, despite ordeals like the local ritual of dipping stinking cheese on toast into coffee.

“Succeeds in turning around the French cinematic cliché that romping comedies take place in the south… and the north is reserved for depressing social realism.”

Please note that there is only one week between this film and the next.