This little charmer came out of nowhere this year to become the most successful French film of all time. In fact, nearly half the French population has seen it, and an American remake is already in the works. Post office manager Philippe longs for a transfer to the sunny, sophisticated south of France. But when his attempt to cheat his way into a transfer backfires, he is sent instead to Nord-Pas de Calais, which for most of the French might as well be a frozen version of hell. This northern province—an area roughly equivalent to our deep Appalachia in its perceived absence of cultural elegance—is known for its chilly dampness, its drunken, unemployable population, its terrible food and an impenetrable dialect known as Ch’timi. But Philippe soon learns to love these hicks so much that he must devise a strategy—with the help of the natives—to keep his left-behind wife from discovering his secret. Directed and cowritten by two-time acting César nominee Dany Boon, who also stars (and is himself a proud Ch’ti), the film is a warm and uproarious send-up of regional prejudices and an embrace of inclusiveness that travels marvelously well to our side of the Atlantic due to in part to its clever deployment of subtitles, which superbly translates the dense linguistic thicket of otherwise-très-Gallic gags.

Written by Dany Boon, Alexandre Charlot, Franck Magnier. Photographed by Pierre Aïm. With Kad Merad, Dany Boon, Zoé Félix, Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret (106 min. Print courtesy Pathé International)