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The Town that Put French Comedy on the Map
A photo essay of Bergues, the northern town that stars in the highest grossing French film of 2009, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks).
I’d been wanting to visit Bergues ever since I saw the French film Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (‘Welcome to the Sticks’). It’s a comedy about a post office worker who transfers to the company’s office in the city way up in the north of France. As far as comedies go, it’s pretty funny insofar as it plays with the stereotypes that northern and southern French people hold towards each other. So one long weekend, I decided to catch the train and head up north to the Hauts-de-France region.
Upon arrival, what surprised me most was how small Bergues was. If you watch the film, you might get the impression that it’s a medium-sized town. In reality, it’s tiny. After I entered through the city walls and passed a cathedral, it took me around 400m to reach the town square, where I saw its famous bell tower and the post office where the protagonist goes to work. It’s no exaggeration to say that many key scenes in the movie (e.g. the arrival in the town scene, the post office scenes, the bell tower scene, the French fry shack scene, the motorcycle scene, the drunkenness scene etc.) take place within this square…
