Les diaboliques (1955)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Writers:

Pierre Boileau (novel) and
Thomas Narcejac (novel) ...

Release Date:

21 November 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

See it, be amazed at it, but... BE QUIET ABOUT IT! (original Finnish poster tagline)

Plot:

The wife of a cruel headmaster and his mistress conspire to kill him, but after the murder is committed, his body disappears, and strange events begin to plague the two women.

Plot Keywords:

Headmaster | Mistress | Swimming Pool | Murder | Bathtub

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Simone Signoret	...	Nicole Horner
Véra Clouzot	...	Christina Delassalle (as Vera Clouzot)
Paul Meurisse	...	Michel Delassalle
Charles Vanel	...	Alfred Fichet, le commissaire
Jean Brochard	...	Plantiveau, le concierge
Pierre Larquey	...	M.Drain, professeur
Michel Serrault	...	M. Raymond, le surveillant
Thérèse Dorny	...	Mme. Herboux
Noël Roquevert	...	M. Herboux
Yves-Marie Maurin	...	Moinet, une jeune Moynet
Georges Poujouly	...	Soudieu, un élève
Georges Chamarat	...	Dr. Loisy
Jacques Varennes	...	M. Bridoux, professeur
Robert Dalban	...	Le garagiste
Jean Lefebvre	...	Le soldat

Also Known As:

Diabolique (USA)
Les Diaboliques: The Fiends (UK)
The Devils (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

114 min | UK:92 min | USA:116 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1966) | Finland:K-18 (1956) | Finland:K-18 (1968) | South Korea:15 | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | Norway:16 | Italy:VM14 | UK:X (original rating) (1955) | UK:15 (re-rating) (1985)

Filming Locations:

Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, France

Company:

Filmsonor

Trivia:

Two women drive from the outskirts of Paris to Niort, the birthplace of director Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Goofs:

Continuity: When M. Delassalle has fallen into bed, Christina Delassale removes his shoes at his request. Later when Nicole Horner comes into the room, his shoes are on him again, and Nicole tells Christina to remove them. The shoes are still on his feet when he's put into the tub.

Quotes:

Alfred Fichet, le commissaire: To commit suicide in the Seine, one doesn't need to undress.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Jean-Philippe (2006)

Intense claustrophobia

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.