A movie just came out here poking fun at the north of France. It resembles the sympathetic yet stereotypical portrayal of the southern US in Sweet Home Alabama. It's called Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis and goes like this: A post office manager gets transfered from Provence (famous, beautiful region in sunny Southern France) to the Nord Pas-de-Calais where I live. He's horrified. His wife is stricken. His son thinks his dad may loose some toes to the cold, artic weather. The film reveals all the stereotypes graying the name of Northern France.
As he crosses the county line, sheets of rain attack his car. He arrives and can't understand anyone because of the dialect (an awful sounding thing). An old woman makes him eat stinky maroilles cheese on toast dunked in chicory coffee for breakfast. Then its fries, fries, fries for lunch. Eventually, he grows to appreciate and enjoy the town... but he tells his wife (still living in Provence) the opposite because that's what she wants to hear. So when she comes to visit, the whole town acts terrible and tries to scare her with exagerrations of the worst stereotypes. It's so funny.
So, imagine watching this movie in the theater filled with actual inhabitants of this region. The theater was packed solid. And has been for a week. There were rollicking laughs echoing from all corners of the theater. Anyway, the movie just made me want to go visit other parts of France and see if it's really different here... I've never really spent much time anywhere else.
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