It's a simple film that clearly plays of stereotypes that southerners have of those living in the north (although perhaps slightly exagerated for comic effect). Phillipe Abrams (Kad Merad) cheats his way to a transfer to the south, having being found out, he gets a disciplinary transfer up to the "belle ville de Bergues". Whilst there he discovers the Ch'ti language and that the stereotypes are indeed false and that the Nord pas-de-calais is actually a very nice region. However his wife believes otherwise and thinks he is having a horrible time and so comes to visit with a hillarious set of events following this.
The film is the brain child of Dany Boon, who loves his region of the Nord Pas-de-Calais, this comes through in the film to many extents, not least the magnificent shots of the town and the coastal region. The film never fails to make me smile, even having seen it 3-4 times. (I think after the first time I even had a tear in my eye when he left the town at the end). The subtitles are very cleverly done, the translator understands the jokes and whilst in translation they are changed, the essence of the language barrier of French and Ch'ti is maintained (Sien/Chien. Office/Fish).
The film performed very well in France breaking all the records including the ones set by James Cameron's Titanic to become France's most sucessfull film of all time.
Bravo Dany! (Rien à déclarer is also must see).
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