Didier

Jean-Pierre Costa, a football manager known for keeping his club in line, suddenly watches his routine unravel when his friend Annabelle leaves a Labrador named Didier in his care just before a high stakes match. A star player suffers an injury, thinning the squad and heightening the pressure to perform. Then an extraordinary turn upends the day, pushing Costa into an impossible set of choices and forcing him to improvise. Didier’s unpredictable presence begins to affect team dynamics, fan expectations, and Costa’s own sense of order. The situation grows messier with every late call, every practice, and every awkward encounter around the training ground, the dugout, and the taxi stand outside.

Directed by Alain Chabat, Didier released in 1997 as a French comedy that mixes deadpan humor with slapstick. The film features Jean-Pierre Bacri as Costa and Alain Chabat as Didier, with Isabelle Gélinas and Lionel Abelanski in supporting roles, marking Chabat's distinctive voice in an original screenplay.

Critics praised Didier for its dry wit and brisk pacing that blends workplace satire with a touch of the surreal. The film quietly explores responsibility under pressure, how a manager adapts when plans derail, and the odd ways chaos can force creative solutions. Bacri brings a steady, exasperated center while Chabat leans into the film's misfit situations, creating a balance between bemusement and bite.

Didier sits among late 90s French comedies as a quirky entry that showcases Chabat's unconventional tone. Its premise and performances helped cement a reputation for offbeat humor, influencing later crowd pleasers that lean into the unexpected and reward viewers who enjoy a sly subversion of genre conventions.

Box office details are not widely published, and the film remains a modest, beloved oddity rather than a blockbuster. Its status in retrospect is mostly defined by its character chemistry and Chabat's idiosyncratic sensibility rather than box office tallies.