Bienvenue chez les ch’tis or Welcome to the Sticks was about a post office manager struggling to keep his wife happy. He pretends to be handicapped, so he can get transferred to the seaside to make his wife happy. He is caught lying, and he gets transferred to Bergues for 2 years as a punishment. He goes to Bergues with the idea that it is inhabited by unsophisticated, barbaric individuals. At first he hates Bergues; he does not understand their humor and has a hard time understanding their language. His first night there, he meets Antoine, a friendly mailman with an overbearing mother. However, he is convinced that Antoine is gay and dislikes him even more because of it. Philippe Abrams eventually grows to like and maybe even love Bergues and the people who live there; however, he lies to his wife and convinces her he is miserable there because it seems make his marriage better. When his wife wants to visit he tells his friends all things he has said about them, and after being mad for a little while, they all get together to help him convince his wife that Bergues is the unsophisticated, cold, barbaric place they have always assumed it to be. When she finds out, she gets angry and returns to Southern France. The film ends with Antoine finally standing up to his mother and getting engaged to Annabelle, another post office worker, and Philippe Abrams resolving the issue between him and his wife, Julie.

The title does not provide any clues to how the story will unfold. The mise en scene includes: a setting that bounces between Southern France and Bergues, clothing that showed the difference between the Southern French and the Northern French. The Southern French dressed more professional or sophisticated, and the Northern French dressed a bit more casual, but certainly not barbaric. Southern France was depicted as really sunny and warm while Bergues was depicted as wet and cold. However, it was actually quite sunny as the movie went on. There was a scene at the beginning when Phillipe Abrams first arrived it was rainy, and when his wife arrived the lighting was dark to set the mood for the old mining town. At the end of the film Bergues was a bit cloudy, but mostly sunny, and Southern France was extremely sunny. In Bergues, the sounds were a bit louder, and in Southern France it was more quiet and calm. In some scenes, the acting was a bit exaggerated to show the mood of the characters, but in most scenes the acting was pretty natural. The main characters in the film were Annabelle, Julie, Antoine, and Philippe Abrams. Annabelle is portrayed as very down to earth, kind-hearted, but slightly unhappy. Julie is the wife of Abrams, and she is depressed and in a way she makes the marriage depressing because she is always unhappy; however, she loves Abrams very much. Antoine is miserable, and turns to alcohol to drown out his sorrows. Lastly Philippe Abrams is portrayed as the husband trying to get his marriage back to how it used to be and struggling to keep his wife happy. All of the characters are quite friendly with each other they’re friends; however, Antoine and Annabelle are in love with each other, but have been split up because of Antoine’s overbearing mother. Julie and Philippe are married; they go through the normal ups and downs that would be seen in throughout a marriage, but their love for one another is strong. Antoine and Philippe start off by not being very fond of each other, but they end up becoming best friends. Annabelle is the voice of reason for Philippe in regard to Antoine and how he deals with his problems.

I believe the purpose of this story is to point out the stereotypes within the French people; however, the overarching theme or lesson that was taught throughout this film is to stop judging a place or person before getting to know them and experiencing the culture of the place you have stereotyped. The stereotypes were very evident in what Philippe was told about the Bergues and the inhabitants there. However, when he got there, he realized it was not as cold, gloomy, and wet as he thought. It was actually quite warm in regard to the weather and the people there. The film can definitely be related to real life. As humans, we often make assumptions about anything we have no concrete knowledge of especially new places and new people. As individuals can we look past the stereotypes we have? If so, how can we look past them?