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Les Diaboliques

Rating

Director

H.G. Clouzot

Screenplay

H.G. Clouzot, Jérôme Geronimi, René Masson, Frédéric Grendel (Novel: Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac)

Length

1h 57m

Starring

Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel, Jean Brochard, Therese Dorny, Michel Serrault, Georges Chamarat, Robert Dalban, Camille Guerini, Jacques Hilling, Jean Lefebvre, Aminda Montserrat, Jean Temerson, Jacques Varennes, Georges Poujouly, Yves-Marie Maurin, Noel Roquevert, Pierre Larquey

MPAA Rating

Not Rated

Basic Plot

A schoolmaster’s wife and mistress are tired of his high-handed ways and decide to kill him.

Review

When you look back at the great foreign cinema classics, “Les Diaboliques” should immediately leap to mind. Henri-Georges Clouzot directs and co-writes the screenplay of this classic of the French New Wave.

The film opens at an all-boys education institution. Michel Delasalle (Paul Meurisse) is the headmaster and his wife, Christina (Vera Clouzot) is a teacher there. Delasalle’s mistress, Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret) is also a teacher. Nicole and Christina know about each other, but seem to get along just fine.

The finally decide they’ve had enough of his vicious ways and decide to kill him. They derive an immensely in depth plan, luring him away and locking him in a trunk among other things. Everything they do is in anticipation of committing the perfect murder.

They leave town in order to establish their alibi. When they arrive, they send for Michel and he arrives without a fuss. After they kill him, they wrap him up in a plastic tablecloth, stash him in a wicker trunk and drive him back to the school.

That night, they dispose of his body in the pool and wait for someone else to discover the body. They wait a couple of days and no one has either seen the body or Michel. When they have the pool drained, they discover that he’s no longer there.

That’s when mysterious things happen to suggest that Michel is not dead…something that neither Christina nor Nicole can believe.

Despite having aged more than 40 years, “Diaboliques” is still an engrossing suspense film. While some of the acting leaves a lot to be desired and the surprise ending won’t be surprising to some (especially if you’ve seen other films with similar plots based on this one), but it is still an enjoyable viewing experience.

Extremely well written, “Diaboliques” is one of those rare films that blend its intelligent writing, directing and production elements (cinematography and editing) to make a terrific cinematic film.

“Les Diaboliques” is easily one of the best French foreign language films ever made and one of the finest crafted suspense thrillers in all of cinema.

Review Written

March 30, 1999