Marion Cotillard (Nadine), Dominique Pinon (Stef), Jean-Luc Couchard (JC), Jérémie Rénier (Greg), Mélanie Laurent (Natacha), François Damiens (Claudy), Catherine Jacob (Sylvie, la tante de Natacha), Florence Foresti (Le Commissaire Laurence)

Plot Outline

JC is the perfect example of a certain kind of Belgian: show-off, loud-mouth, Mr Know-It-All. As he can only see his dream of a beautiful life on a sunny beach through a travel agency window, he makes do with preaching at everyone else. Fortunately, JC is also funny, touching and emotional – and an ace ladykiller, which is not the case with Stef, his lifelong friend. While jokes, sex, fights and, let’s be honest, stealing cars are JC’s daily fun, Stef’s permanent good mood is merely a façade hiding his existential unease. JC’s unexpected encounter with Natacha, a beautiful adventuress, in a merc’s trunk is turning point for the two pals. Then begins a picaresque voyage in today’s Belgium inhabited by characters each more crazy than the last.

Marion's Role

She plays Nadine – a teacher. However, like the rest of the film’s characters she’s nothing but normal. During an educational trip to some kind of museum with her students she literally shows the kids what people look like after a car accident. Or the scene where she’s supposedly doing drug prevention with the kids is just hilarious. In her free time Nadine is falling for Greg – an unexpected match.

External Links

• News Updates
• Official Site
• IMDb
• Buy DVD or Blu-ray (France)
• Buy DVD or Blu-ray (US)
• Buy DVD or Blu-ray (UK)

Trivia

• Filming Locations: Anderlecht; Brussels; Knokke-het-Zoute, West-Vlaanderen (Belgium)

• Dikkenek is the first full-length feature of director Olivier Van Hoofstadt after many short films. One of which ‘Snuff Movie’ also starring Marion Cotillard.
• Nadine’s BMW 645 in the film was a luxury car worth 85,000 euros. The manufacturer was really nice and agreed to take the engine out.
• Dikkenek means “fat neck” (literal translation from Dutch), a braggart, a “big mouth” or a “Mr. or Ms. know-it-all”

Quotes from Marion

I really liked the idea of a girl who’s a bit crazy, who comes from an environment where money isn’t a problem. She’s the perfect embodiment of my mantra: “We’re all good and we’re all wicked at the same time.

Quotes from Others

She was an obvious choice, she had already starred in two of my two short films and she has always been there for me even after she became a star.
• Olivier Van Hoofstadt

My Opinion

With comedies such as this I feel if you live in another part of the world and most importantly speak another language you won’t be able to get it. At least that was the case for me with this film. It was nice to see Marion Cotillard in a different role: as a teacher freaking out the kids and kind of losing it in her free time. As far as I could tell she has perfect comic timing but also brings emotional depth to the character as the film moves on.