 The Criterion Collection --- Subtitled --- An acknowledged influence on Psycho, Henri-Georges Clouzot's horror classic is the story of a sadistic headmaster who brutalizes his fragile wife and his headstrong mistress, the two women murder him and dump his body in a swimming pool; when the pool is drained, no corpse is found. Storyline: The wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school's filthy swimming pool... but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared - and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his 'killers' (and the audience) up the wall with almost unbearable suspense... Written by Michael Brooke Cast Notes: [Cast overview, first billed only]), 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). User Comment: Mario Bergeron from Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Canada, 25 August 2000 • This is not a legend : after reading Pierre Boileau's novel, Alfred Hitchcock phone the editor in the morning to buy the story for making a film. But another great master, Henri-Georges Clouzot, had phone 30 minutes earlier. Mister Hitchcock was angry! But Hitch couldn't have done better than Clouzot. This is P-E-R-F-E-C-T! The black and white, the dialogues, the acting and even the reclusive French scool of the 1950's. And for the suspense... well every viewer of IMDB had said the same things I could said. So, Diaboliques is the best suspense thriller of all time, and also one of the best movie ever made. Please, I really said please, don't ever watch the remake with Isabelle Adjani and Sharon Stone. There are certains movies that you can't make two times. Like all the Hitchcock and Clouzot films, for example... Summary: Oh wow... this is it!. User Comment: *** This comment may contain spoilers *** Ivanhoe Vargas (rangonin@aol.com) from Jersey City, NJ, 10 April 2005 • Hitchcock must have forever wondered how he managed to allow this story to slip out of his hands, but the fact remains: had he filmed CELLE QUI N'ETAIT PAS into his own version of what is known as LES DIABOLIQUES, there very well might not have been a VERTIGO, also an adaptation from the authors of the aforementioned one and D'ENTRE LES MORTES. All in all, this is an excellent horror film that has strong Film Noir overtones and precedes New Wave by a couple of years and its simple yet powerful direction by Jean Georges-Clouzot elevates it from a standard thriller to one to which all others are measured spawning countless imitations with much less satisfying degree. One wonders what treatment Hitchcock would have given it, and interestingly, it's all here: the almost casual presentation of spousal abuse that occurs off-camera in one chilling scene early on, the events that lead the women (Vera Clouzot and Simone Signoret) to make a drastic decision concerning killing Clouzot's husband (Michel DelaSalle), and then the growing, deadly certainty he may not be quite dead after all... and may be after the terrified women. The last 15 minutes are one of the most tension-inducing I've ever seen in any climactic montage (even if it does veer into a certain implausibility but the intent is to tell a suspense story and Hitchcock has often mentioned the "suspension of disbelief" factor) and have long gone into history as one of the most horrific moments in cinema. To those interested in watching LES DIABOLIQUES, please do NOT watch its American remake, DIABOLIQUE, with Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani. It pays to read the subtitles in this film. Summary: The Greatest Film Hitchcock Did Not Make.. IMDb Rating (07/24/14): 8.2/10 from 30,849 users Top 250: #177 IMDb Rating (10/15/07): 8.1/10 from 7,270 users Top 250: #137 IMDb Rating (09/21/07): 8.3/10 from 6,968 users Top 250: #142
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