Dikkenek (2006)

Vignette | The Anderlecht Slaughterhouses, of which Claudy is the managing director, are the film’s opening scene. The film’s dikkenek is embodied in particular by J.C., who takes great pleasure in lecturing anyone who crosses his path. Claudy Focan, played by François Damiens, is also a dikkenek. The film takes place mainly in Brussels and, to a lesser extent, in Flanders, Belgium. It follows the misadventures of J.C. (Jean-Luc Couchard), a loudmouth, know-it-all and petty purse-snatcher, who wants to help his childhood friend Stef (Dominique Pinon) find true love. J.C. may find love with Natacha (Mélanie Laurent), a young student with no real ambitions who has the misfortune of meeting Claudy Focan, a perverted, peep-show-loving “redneck,” loudmouth and alcoholic who manages the Anderlecht slaughterhouses and works as a glamour photographer in his spare time. Stef eventually finds love with Nadine (Marion Cotillard), a friend of Natacha’s, a hysterical primary-school teacher who has a problem with “schnouf” (drugs) and has just left Dimitry (Renaud Rutten), a self-centered, bourgeois psychologist. Among this colorful cast of characters are also Laurence (Florence Foresti), a lesbian, racist police commissioner who likes guns, and Greg (Jérémie Renier), a fan of powerful cars who is unfortunate enough to get beaten up by J.C., then by Claudy (and others as well). They all come together at Fabienne’s birthday party.