Les diaboliques

The odds against writing and directing two all-time classic thrillers/suspensers back to back must be fairly remote, featuring your wife in both remoter still, and starring Yves Montand in the first (The Wages Of Fear, in case there are any first-time buyers out there) and his wife, Simone Signoret in the second, astronomical. Say hello - and tip your hat while you're about it - to Henri-George Clouzot who pulled off this double whammy with ease. Clouzot made only a handful of films but those he did make were worth seeing, from Le Corbeau thru L'Assassin habite du 21 thru Quai des Orfevres and up to Wages and this one. Again many previous commenters have set the scene and described the plot and most of them are more than positive in their praise. I can only endorse their opinions and raise a glass to all involved especially Paul Meurisse and Charles Vanel who tend to get lost in the shuffle. 9/10

"Les Diaboliques" has one of the best plots you will ever find in any mystery or suspense thriller. The excellent directing, acting, and writing combine with the story itself to make it a memorable experience.

If you enjoy quality mysteries or thrillers, you will almost certainly enjoy this one - and if you have not seen it yet, you might just want to buy or rent it now, before you read any more reviews. This comment will avoid any discussion at all of the actual plot itself, because the less you know in advance, the more you will enjoy it. The few implausible elements in the story do not detract at all from the enjoyment.

A great plot does not all by itself make a good movie, and everything works especially well here because of the expert pacing by director Henri-Georges Clouzot and good, mostly understated acting by the main actors. We are drawn into their world very nicely. Everything about the characters and events is built up perfectly, to give the brilliant climax its full effect. Once again, see it before you find out any more.

Even if you do not normally watch black-and-white films or foreign movies (this is in French), if you enjoy thrillers, watch "Les Diaboliques" as soon as you have the chance.

The wife and the mistress of a headmaster pool their resources to scotch his wicked antics, pull the plug on his mathematics, but the corpse does a runner and tensions arise, as events unfold with increasing surprise, a basket case, a zombie face, a cracking French facade, what a spectacularly original and engrossing film to devise!

Les diaboliques is an unusually intense movie. I believe this is due to the well thought out choice of real locations and the masterful use of spatial entities and textures. Your memory really gets hooked on those things, and it gives the story a sense of reality that makes you feel uneasy.

Les diaboliques is as much a horror movie as it is a thriller. When I watch this I perceive an intense mouldy smell throughout. The crumbling boarding school where the main characters live and act is worse than any nightmare – even the swimming pool filled with murky water appears like a menacing abyss. The stifling crummyness is accentuated by the plot: School teachers sit at the sadistic principal's table in the refectory and have to force unspeakably ghastly meals down their throats (only one glass of wine is allowed). The second location is the principal's lover's apartment in a dead borough somewhere in no man's land. It's stuffy and utterly claustrophobic. The transfer between the two places is made with a "deux chevaux" station wagon – its characteristic back part of corrugated sheet metal once was a common feature in our parts of the world, as was the snarling sound of the deux chevaux‘s engine. In the corrugated iron "box" sits a creaky wicker crate, which on the way back from the lover's apartment contains evidence of the crime, wrapped in a checkered wax tablecloth. So you see shells within shells, not unlike one of those Russian wooden dolls. You don't know what you will find in the innermost until the end.

And once you've watched them both, you'll know why. While Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" may have been dealing with extra thematic material beneath its horrific surface, providing additional dimensions that the French film didn't have, "Diabolique" (or "Les Diaboliques" as it's known in France) is a thriller whose atmosphere and sense of mystery equal that of the great Hitchcock classic. The same dark, threatening black and white cinematography and bizarre, macabre goings-on of "Psycho" meet their French counterpart in "Diabolique", much to the viewer's delight. And while "Psycho" gave the world perhaps the most memorable scene revolving around a shower, "Diabolique" presents the most memorable scene[s] connected with a bathtub. More outstanding than any other bathtub scenes, in my opinon, including the ones from "The Shining".

From the tension before the murder to the mysteries that arise afterwards, the suspense mounts to an eerie climax that remains one of the Cinema's most exciting, whether you predicted it or not. If you weren't expecting it, it will truly be a frightening and confusing (in a good way) surprise. If you successfully foretold it, it will satisfy your suspicions and still captivate your attention.

The only thing that seems sub-par about the film is the police detective's role in the incidents during the climax and after. You may wonder why he didn't arrive on the scene earlier, or whether he could have prevented certain events from occurring. It seems awkward that he shows up when he did and knows all about what just happened. One gets the idea that perhaps French Production Codes of some kind had an effect on the plot at this point, giving the ending a somewhat forced and artificial flavor.