Classic International Movie: “Diabolique”
October is classic international movies month. Today’s guest post comes from Sherin Nicole.
Movie Title: Les Diaboliques (also Diabolique)
Year: 1954 (France) 1955 (US)
Writers: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jérome Geronimi, Frédéric Grendel, René Masson — from the novel Celle qui n’était plus by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
Lead Actors: Véra Clouzot, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
IMDb Plot Summary: The wife of [an abusive] 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.
Why I Think This Is A Classic International Movie
There are three factors that, when found in any combination of two, make a film a classic: influence over filmmaking at large, the love of the audience, and critical acclaim. Diabolique attained all three very quickly after its release in 1954.
Diabolique is unforgettable. Years later, when someone talks about the movie anyone who has seen it immediately shouts and starts describing the bathtub scene. Critics adore the film as well and often deconstruct its structure and influence. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot changed the game with Diabolique, in that he innovated many of the visual cues now thought of as suspense thriller standards — most prominently, the twist ending. Although nothing in the film seems new when watched today, most of the tricks of suspense it employs were unprecedented in 1954–1955. It’s a fun game to count all the visuals that have become tropes of modern suspense thrillers: from lone women running down hallways, to silhouettes in windows, to murky water, to bathrooms depicted as the scariest room in a house. (If you try this as a drinking game, you will get drunk). Before that films like Gaslight (1944) and Double Indemnity (1944) played with our emotions but not with our perceptions; they definitely didn’t turn everything we’d seen upside down and make us doubt it all. Film critics speculate Clouzot inspired Alfred Hitchcock to raise the level of thrills found in his movies. Arguably, we wouldn’t have gotten the major shock in Psycho (1960) or that thrilling shower scene without the double twist and bathtub scare in Diabolique.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie
My favorite moment is one in which Clouzot may be teasing Hitchcock. It’s rumored that the former beat the later to the adaptation rights. It is also known, as mentioned above, that the plot twists in Psycho as well as Hitchcock’s momentary return to black & white film were his answer to Diabolique.
With this is mind there is a scene when Cristina, the protagonist, goes to a hotel where her supposedly dead husband may be staying. She enters the room alone. As she looks around the closet door slowly squeaks open, seemingly of its own accord. Cristina jumps. The mirrored door reflects her startled image back at her. From inside the closet emerges the hotel janitor. He’s portly and balding, with a sharp-nosed profile. His line delivery and cadence are as droll as Hitchcock in any interview. This scene makes me chuckle every time I watch it. By 1954 Hitchcock was well known for his cameos, and I can’t help but think Clouzot covertly sent a message to his rival: If this were your film, this would’ve been you.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie
There are many dialogues that stand out throughout Diabolique: the groundskeeper who warns against overconfidence by observing those who can swim are most likely to drown because those who can’t stay away from the water; or the students who describe their headmaster as a cock in heat and ponder why he’d need more than the two chickens he already has. The screenwriters have a startling way of contrasting humor with dark subject matter along with a sense of foreboding. In my favorite dialogue those elements are combined with an added note of surprise.
Nicole Horner: You must’ve suffered in that trunk.
[they kiss passionately]
Michel Delassalle: What about the dive in the pool in the middle of the night? [sighs] She made life terrible for us. [speaking of the lengths they went through to induce his wife to have a heart attack. Yeah, they’re rotten.]
Nicole Horner: [caresses his cheek] I got scared more than four times.
Michel Delassalle: It was worth it, no? Now we’re rich. Just by selling the school we’ll get a lot —
Inspector Fichet: [suddenly appearing behind them] — between 15 and 20 years in jail, it’ll depend on the judge.
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie
There is no music. Only the opening and closing titles are scored. Which means there are no musical cues to tell us what to feel or when to feel it. Instead the screenwriters use, the mistress character, Nicole’s emotional reactions to alert us to when we should notice something is amiss. Since her emotions are often erratic her reactions up the tension in the same way a score would. Late in the film this burden shifts to our lead, Cristina, who has a heart condition. In lieu of a swelling score, her fear and mounting desperation signal moments when something suspenseful lurks. Véra Clouzot does a wonderful job with this — although we cannot hear the thump of her failing heartbeat, we feel it.
Not one line of dialogue is a throwaway. Each time someone speaks it either furthers the plot, furthers our understanding of the characters, or is foreshadowing. Early on, there is a scene in the school dining hall in which the Headmaster forces the assemblage to eat rotten fish for dinner. He even shouts at his sickly wife, Cristina, to “Swallow!” when she can’t force the food down. The setup of this scene leaves no doubts the rotten fish is analogous to the headmaster, who is forcing his sadistic ways down everyone’s throats. The dialogue that follows supports this revelation:
Michel Delassalle: [mocking his wife as she chokes on spoiled fish] Everyone is looking at you. Swallow.
Nicole Horner: It’s disgusting!
Michel Delassalle: Sorry?
Nicole Horner: [angrily] Some things are hard to swallow, and I’m not talking about the fish.
The screenwriters are as deft in telling us who to cheer for as they are in manipulating our emotions. Cristina is shown as frail and subjugated but the character is given just enough pluck to make her a worthy protagonist. Michel is an abusive bastard, from slapping his wife, to kissing his mistress in front of her. The screenwriters leave us no doubt the world would be a better place without him. The characters of Nicole, the mistress, and Inspector Fichet, the savior, are a bit more complicated. Nicole seems to be helping Cristina but then again maybe not. She regularly switches from nursemaid to verbal abuser. At one point Nicole tells Cristina, “You think like a child. You’re not worth anything.” We are left to wonder whether to categorize Nicole as protagonist, antagonist, or something in between. Inspector Fichet is the opposite of Nicole. In most stories he’d be a savior type, but here he’s dangerous because he could expose Cristina as a killer. Since we’re cheering for our protagonist to get away with murder in order to be free, we have no choice but to strongly dislike the most trustworthy character in the film, the detective. Inspector Fichet’s good intentions are less helpful and more of a threat. This is masterful manipulation, and it makes for an intense final act.
Inspector Fichet is a prototype. Watch Fichet, you’ll notice he is the template for the bumbling but brilliant detective archetype made famous in portrayals like Peter Falk’s Columbo.
The visual contrasts in the two leading ladies are classic. The dark haired Cristina is infantilized, she’s called “CriCri” by her husband, she wears pigtails braided down her back, her height is diminutive — similar to that of the students — and everyone, including the students, rushes to protect her. Nicole is a statuesque suicide blonde. Her hair is cut short, her clothes are tailored to accentuate her shoulders, to give off a vibe of womanly dominance. As one of the tallest members of the cast, Nicole often glares down at the other characters to intimidate them, she also physically grabs or slaps them.
The closing of the film features one of the earliest spoiler alerts. On a final card, the director encourages viewers to keep the ending a secret so they won’t ruin the surprises for their friends.
You may watch the movie online here.
Thanks, Sherin!
To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
We already have a set of classic 30s movies, 40s movies, 5os movies, 60s Movies, 70s movies, 80s Movies and 90s Movies. This month, we’re working on classic international movies. And thanks to the GITS community, we’ve got at least 22 movies in the works and hopefully more!
Those who I put in bold have already sent me their posts. If you haven’t sent yours to me, please do so as soon as you can!!!
A Prophet — Paul Graunke
Akira — Clay Mitchell
Amelie — Kevin Curran
Belle Epoque — Melinda Mahaffey
Cinema Paradiso — Traci Nell Peterson
Diabolique — Sherin Nicole
Jules et Jim — Susan Winchell
Kolya — Melinda Mahaffey
Lady Vengeance — David Joyner
Millennium Actress — Chris Neumann
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies — John Henderson
Reprise — Wally Marzano-Lesnevich
Seven Samurai — Will King
The Lives of Others — PaulG
The Tenant — Marija Nielsen
This Man Must Die — Marija Nielsen
Looking for more volunteers, your chance to memorialize your favorite international movie and yourself as a contributor to our ongoing blog series on classic movies.
