Nothing to Declare 2010

On 1 January 1993, two customs officers, Ruben Vandevoorde and Mathias Ducatel, face the closure of their small post in the middle of a quiet border village, known as Courquain in French and Koorkin in Belgian. Ruben is introduced as a hereditary Francophobe, while Mathias is the first French volunteer to join the Franco-Belgian mobile squad, a move driven in part by his love for Ruben’s sister, Louise Vandevoorde. This romance complicates the dynamic within families and at the checkpoint, even as the duo become unlikely partners in a tense, sometimes comic, cross-border order.

Parallel to the police work, Jacques Janus and Irène Janus are hired by a drug trafficker named Duval to relay information about the squad’s checkpoints, a plan meant to raise money for the restaurant No Man’s Land during the transition to the Schengen Agreement. The scheme, however, is thwarted when Tiburce, Duval’s accomplice, bungles his escape and ends up in jail, complicating everyone’s plans. Tiburce’s misstep underscores the broader fragility of the operation and the absurdities that bubble up in the border town.

As the two officers pursue Duval, a bond forms between them. The priest of Chimay, Priest of Chimay, warns Ruben that his deep-seated animosity toward the French could seal his fate in hell, a message that initially pushes Ruben toward a wary loyalty to his partner. Yet the friendship deepens as Ducatel proves himself, even as Ruben discovers that Ducatel has been quietly seeing Louise for a year. The revelation tests the limits of loyalty and family, and when Ruben confronts Ducatel with a gun, Louise intervenes, choosing love over fear and opening a fragile path to reconciliation.

In the end, Ruben accepts the relationship, but the shadow of xenophobia remains, leaving audiences with an unresolved question about whether Father Vandevoorde, Father Vandevoorde, will ever truly approve of the union. The film blends warmth and friction—border tensions, familial loyalties, and the awkward humor of everyday encounters in a village where customs and borders blur. It is a story of love challenged by prejudice, the persistence of friendship in unlikely places, and the way small communities navigate shifting political landscapes while clinging to their own sense of belonging.