The Man in the Hat

Cecile van Dijk designed the costumes for The Man in the Hat (2020), a whimsical and largely dialogue-free road movie starring Ciarán Hinds (Belfast, The Woman in Black), alongside Stephen Dillane, Maïwenn, Sasha Hails, Xavier Laurent and Muna Otaru.

The film follows The Man in the Hat (Ciarán Hinds) as he journeys through the French countryside in a battered Fiat 500, accompanied only by a framed photograph of an unknown woman — and pursued relentlessly by five angry men in a Citroën Dyane. Travelling north across the mountains, gorges and ancient bridges of rural France, he encounters a colourful cast of strangers, including The Damp Man (Stephen Dillane, Game of Thrones), The Chef (Muna Otaru) and The Biker (Maïwenn), each adding fragments of story, music and memory to his mysterious escape.

Written and directed by Stephen Warbeck (Academy Award-winning composer of Shakespeare in Love), the film is a visual and musical love letter to the French countryside, blending gentle comedy, romance and melancholy without relying on spoken dialogue. You can find more details about the film’s cast and crew on IMDb.

For this production, Cecile van Dijk crafted costumes reflecting the eccentric, timeless character of rural France — dressing a wide range of quirky, memorable figures who cross paths with the film’s silent protagonist. Each costume needed to convey personality and backstory without dialogue, reinforcing tone and character purely through visual storytelling.

This project reflects Cecile van Dijk’s versatility across genres, from contemporary comedy-drama to the historical work seen in Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston and Einstein and the Bomb.