Les Diaboliques (1955)

“Don't Reveal the Ending!”

The conspiracy of a murder, I bet, can be really fun. It isn’t until that day that you start to get cold feet and want to back out. And things get a whole lot worse once the body goes missing.

Les Diaboliques is a 1955 French horror/thriller film about two women, the wife of a boarding school headmaster and his mistress, who conspire to murder the abusive principal. But after a fool-proof plan, the body turns up missing, with some horrifying incidents occurring afterwards. What follows is a shocking climax and a chilling ending, but don’t reveal it!

Alfred Hitchcock reportedly attempted to buy the rights for the film to adapt it from the novel of the same name. But French director Henri-Georges Clouzot bought the rights before him. Hitchcock is of course known for thrillers, and this would have been well for him. It’s very thrilling and does feature plenty of suspenseful scenes and moments. The nature of the crime itself was very chilling; drowning is a horrible way to die. Also the hundreds of things that can go wrong and derail the whole plan.

The wife, played by Véra Clouzot, was nervous from day one. Her anxiety throughout the whole film caused the audience to feel very uncertain of themselves, and the conspiracy of the murder. Even after the murder, and post-missing corpse, her deteriorating health matched the audiences’ loss of comprehension for the weird happenings involving the missing headmaster.

One thing I wasn’t feeling too certain for this film was the slow moving story. Despite the mystery surrounding the body going on after the 30 minute mark, I didn’t feel that there were enough jumps and scares, although I’m certain when the film came out in the 50s, it was a hoot.

The twist of the movie is definitely a plus. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot is known for thrillers and this film does in fact deliver the thrills. The way he takes over the small world of the headmaster’s wife and shatters it makes any character and any viewer of the film vulnerable to Clouzot’s methods.

Les Diaboliques is an eerie thriller and obvious prototype to later thrillers and horror films of the century. I give it a 4 out of 5 and you can buy it on DVD or watch it on Netflix.