Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis
Thanks to the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now, I got to see Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (roughly translated as “Welcome to the Land of the Shtis” or alternatively, “Welcome to the Sticks”) the second most attended movie in France (after Titantic), beating out La Grande Vadrouille which was released in 1966! Think what you will of France, but that’s quite an accomplishment in any country.
Considering that its humor lay largely in the linguistic differences between French and the Ch’ti dialect of northern France, the subtitles were excellent in conveying the hilarious gist of things. Highly recommended if it comes to a art theater near you. Or if your partner is French.
Interesting. I didn’t know there were significant dialects of langue d’oïl, much less that the northern regions were looked down on. Thanks for the pointer.