Diabolique: Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts
By May 16, 2011
Among the most enduringly popular motives for murder, in films as in life, is the desire to remove an impediment to happiness—to get somebody, once and for all, out Read more »
- France
- 1955
- 117 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- French
- Spine #35
SYNOPSIS: Before Psycho, Peeping Tom, and Repulsion, there was Diabolique. This thriller from Henri‑Georges Clouzot, which shocked audiences in Europe and the U.S., is the story of two women—the fragile wife and the willful mistress of the sadistic headmaster of a boys’ boarding school—who hatch a daring revenge plot. With its unprecedented narrative twists and terrifying images, Diabolique is a heart-grabbing benchmark in horror filmmaking, featuring outstanding performances by Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, and Paul Meurisse.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Nicole Horner | Simone Signoret |
| Christina Delassalle | Véra Clouzot |
| Michel Delassalle | Paul Meurisse |
| Alfred Fichet | Charles Vanel |
| Plantiveau | Jean Brochard |
| Monsieur Drain | Pierre Larquey |
| Monsieur Raymond | Michel Serrault |
Credits
| Director | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| Producer | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| Based on the novel Celle qui n’était plus by | Pierre Boileau et Thomas Narcejac |
| Screenplay and dialogue by | Henri-Georges Clouzot and Jérôme Géronimi |
| with | René Masson and Frédéric Grendel |
| Director of photography | Armand Thirard |
| Art director | Léon Barsacq |
| Sound | William-Robert Sivel |
| Editing | Madeleine Gug |
| Music | Georges van Parys |
Disc Features
- New digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Selected-scene commentary by French-film scholar Kelley Conway
- New video introduction by Serge Bromberg, codirector of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “Inferno”
- New video interview with novelist and film critic Kim Newman
- Original theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
Diabolique
By February 01, 1999
After finishing Diabolique, heralded French director-screenwriter Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907–1977) confessed that all he had intended was to make a picture that would “amuse myself” and please a young girl who Read more »
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Press Notes
Press Notes: Diabolique
May 26, 2011
“A benchmark horror film laced with heavy elements of film noir, Les diaboliques (better known as Diabolique in America) is arguably the most important genre film of the 1950s, a razor-sharp thriller Read more »
