Diabolique | Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot | A Film So Good It Made Hitchcock Jealous

Diabolique | Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot | "Les Diaboliques" 1955 French Suspense Masterpiece!

DVDs:

Diabolique

	Diabolique Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot average customer review:based on 56 reviews
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highly recommended

Legend has it that Henri-Georges Clouzot beat out Alfred Hitchcock to secure the rights to this novel, which proved to be a veritable blueprint for an icy masterpiece of murder, mystery, and suspense. Véra Clouzot plays the sickly wife of a callous headmaster of a provincial boarding school going to seed, and the commanding Simone Signoret is the headmaster's mistreated mistress. Together they plot and carry out his murder, a brutal drowning that director Clouzot documents in chilly detail, but the corpse disappears, and a nosy detective starts sniffing around the grounds as threatening notes taunt the women. Clouzot's thriller is as precise and accomplished a work as anything in Hitchcock's canon, a film of grueling suspense and startling shocks in an overcast, gray world of decay, but his icy manipulations lack the human dimension and emotional resonance of the master of suspense. The film has been accused of being misanthropic by many critics, and Clouzot's attitude toward his characters is bitter at best, contemptuous at worst. The viewer is left on the outside looking in, but the razor precision and terrifying twists deliver a sleek, bleak spectacle worthy of attention. --Sean Axmaker

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A Film So Good It Made Hitchcock Jealous

A murder mystery, a suspense thriller, an exploration of human psychology, Diabolique is so good that when he first saw it (the first of many viewings) the reigning master of the suspense thriller, Alfred Hitchcock, was envious. The tortuous Diabolique is the story of the murder of a cruelly domineering headmaster of a French boy's school, carried out by his ailing foreign-born wife and aging, blonde mistress, followed by the sanity-assaulting, seemingly impossible, turns of events that ensue from what should have been a finely-orchestrated exercise in homicide. Was the killing of the brutish headmaster somehow observed? Who is toying with the killers, and why? Is what starts off as a tale of crime truly drifting into the supernatural? With enough white knuckle detours in the plot to keep almost any first time viewer guessing till the explanation comes in literally the last minute, Diabolique was, is, and will ever be a masterpiece of film making.

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"Les Diaboliques" 1955 French Suspense Masterpiece!

In 1955's "Les Diaboliques" the viewer is taken to a French provincial town and is introduced to Michel Delassalle (Paul Meurisse), a sadistic headmaster of a school belonging to his wife Christina (Vera Clouzot). Christina is a fragile young woman with a weak heart and is tormented by her adulterous husband who is having an affair with Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret), a strong, forceful teacher who has been his mistress from the day she arrived. He has, however, treated her as badly as his wife, and the two women have been driven into an alliance against him. Together they work out an elaborate plan to rid themselves of their common tormentor. Luring him away from the school to Nicole's cheap lodging house, they induce him to drink some doctored whiskey - and drown him in a bath. The body is later wrapped in a nylon tablecloth, packed into a laundry basket, taken back to the school, and at dark plunged into the grimy water of the school swimming pool. When, shortly after, the pool is drained, watched in anguished expectation from a window by the women, no corpse is there. Soon other mysterious events begin to occur as this spellbinding tale unfolds one twist after another!

The original French title "Les Diaboliques" is also known as "Diabolique" (U.S.A. theater release), "The Devils" (U.S.A. TV release) and as "The Fiends" (United Kingdom theater release). Fans of suspense, especially Alfred Hitchcock (who was also a huge fan of "Diabolique") will want to add this superb classic to their dvd libraries! The grand finale is a real shocker and is one of the best in the "classic suspense" genre! "tres magnifique!"

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Excellent Cinema

The next time you need a film that totally enthralls you, see Les Diaboliques. I had heard so much about this movie that when I finally found it, I watched it immediately. I was nervous from all the hype (as well as from seeing the "remake" with Sharon Stone and Chazz Palminteri, I know it is poor). But seeing this 1955 masterpiece, I am reassured.

The acting is superb. The cinematography is eerie and lends to the mood of the film. And the story is so original and exciting it is no wonder so many have tried to recreate its supernatural magic.

I do not want to spoil any of the plot points, but the film is about an all boys school in France where the principal and a teacher have a very familiar relationship, and his wife knows of it. In an attempt to free themselves from his cruel clutches, the mistress and the wife plot the perfect murder ... but something goes wrong ...

The DVD itself is great. Good sound and an excellent picture quality.

If you like Hitchcock, especially Psycho (his answer to this film) or Vertigo (also written by the same writers as Les Diaboliques), you will love this film.

Highly recommended ... especially for a Criterion Collection DVD under $30!!

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Le Diabolique

A frightening crime caper from 1955 directed by multi award winning French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot

Outstandingly Terrifying

What a mistake to watch this movie at nighttime!!

Les Diabolique (The Devils) is a tale of a woman, Christine who is the wife of a boy's boarding school principal, Michel Delasalle. In a terrible marriage, she wants a divorce, but Michel won't allow her to divorce him. So, Christine and her friend, Nicole devise a plan to murder her husband.

They put sedative in his wine, and then drown him in a bathtub. They then take him in a wicker trunk back to the boarding school and dump him in the swimming pool. When the swimming pool is drained when Christine asks for it to be drained, making everyone believe that Michel commited suicide, his body isn't there.

That's when Christine and Nicole are plagued by horrific events that make the friends believe that Michel has come to pay retribution for his murder.

This is a blood-curdling movie that sent shivers up and down my spine. Never before have I been so terrified by a movie since I saw Stephan King's "The Mist" the same day. Much as I disagree with people dubbing this movie "the scariest movie of all time," it is definitely up there.

Les Diabolique is a terrifying psychological thriller that will leave anybody on the edge of their seats. The ending is incredible, the actors are believable, and although it is a bit difficult to follow at the beginning (if you watch with subtitles) due to a lot of dialogue, the script is well put together.

Anybody who enjoys a good scare should buy this movie. It will not disappoint! =)

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