[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b2b2264e_16f8_4574_9fc1_982033829030.jpeg]]

->''A painting is always quite moral when it is tragic and it presents the horror of the things it depicts.''
-->-- Barbey d'Aurevilly

''Les Diaboliques'' ("The Devils"), also known as ''Diabolique'', is a [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} French]] suspense-thriller made in 1955 and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted from]] the 1952 novel ''Celle qui n'était plus'' ("She who was no more") by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.

The story is set at a run-down boys' boarding school on the outskirts of Paris. Christina (Véra Clouzot) and Nicole (Creator/SimoneSignoret), who are respectively wife and [[TheMistress mistress]] of the school's {{jerkass}} head master, Michel (Paul Meurisse), conspire to murder him. Shortly after they carry out the deed, however, his body disappears. And then things just get weirder from there.

Rumpled, folksy detective Fichet, played by Charles Vanel, was the inspiration for ''Series/{{Columbo}}''.

[[ForeignRemake Remade in the U.S.]] twice, first as the 1974 MadeForTVMovie ''Reflections of Murder'' (starring Joan Hackett as the wife, Tuesday Weld as the mistress, and Creator/SamWaterston as the brutish husband) and then again as the 1996 theatrical film ''Diabolique'' (starring Isabelle Adjani as the wife, Creator/SharonStone as the mistress, Creator/ChazzPalminteri as the husband, and Creator/KathyBates in a [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] role as the detective).

Creator/AlfredHitchcock was impressed enough to acquire the rights to another Boileau[=/=]Narcejac novel and turn it into ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', and he later cited ''Les Diaboliques'' as a big influence on ''Film/{{Psycho}}''. ''Film/{{Deathtrap}}'' was also a SpiritualSuccessor.

There's also a quasi-remake from Hong Kong's Creator/ShawBrothers studios, titled ''Film/{{HEX}}''.

----

!!This movie contains examples of:

* AssholeVictim: Michel, with so much emphasis on "asshole" that the "victim" part almost fades in comparison. [[spoiler:Subverted eventually, as the ending reveals that he has been alive and working together with Nicole the whole time. Double subverted when Alfred Fichet catches them both and arrests them.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Michel and Nicole succeed in killing Christine, but are brought to justice immediately afterwards.]]
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: L'institution Delassalle might not be quite as extreme as some other examples, but it's still a run-down dump overseen by the sadistic headmaster Michel.
* CeilingBanger: Nicole's upstairs tenant, attempting to listen to a radio quiz show, is aggravated by her noisily filling her bathtub at 10 p.m.
* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler:Michel is referred to as a former champion swimmer, which allowed him to hold his breath long enough to make the drowning seem real.]]
* CoolOldGuy: Fichet.
* CutHimselfShaving: Nicole gives a lame excuse for a black eye that was apparently caused by Michel.
* DeadMansChest: Nicole and Christina stuff Michel's body into a wicker chest. It does not shut properly and they are afraid the neighbour might see the body when they load it into their van.
* DeathByAdaptation: The film tweaks the initial murder plot of the novel, but [[spoiler:Nicole and Michel]] actually succeed in [[spoiler:killing Christina.]]
* DisposingOfABody: [[spoiler:Or appearing to, anyway.]]
* DomesticAbuse: Michel is physically and emotionally abusive toward both Christina and Nicole.
* DoNotSpoilThisEnding: Translated from French, the final title card after the film reads:
-->Don't be diabolic yourselves! Don't ruin the interest your friends could take in this film. Don't tell them what you saw. On their behalf, we thank you.
%%* DrivingADesk
* EmptyPilesOfClothing: The women freak out when the suit Michel was drowned in [[spoiler:is returned to the school from a dry cleaners.]]
* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:The whole movie is a plot by Michel and Nicole to kill Christina. She has a weak heart, which they use to frighten her to death.]]
* {{Epigraph}}: The films opens with a quote by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly.
* {{Fainting}}: Christina, after the swimming pool where Michel's body was dumped is drained empty... [[spoiler:and the body is gone.]]
* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Michel wasn't dead at all. It was all a ruse to fool Christina, and literally frighten her to death.]]
* TheFilmOfTheBook: The film is based on ''She Who Was No More'' (''Celle qui n'était plus''), a 1952 novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early scenes establish that 1) Christina has a lot of money of her own, and 2) she has a heart condition.
* FrightDeathTrap: [[spoiler:Christina, driven wild by fright, has her fatal heart attack after Michel rises from the tub.]]
* {{Gaslighting}}: [[spoiler:Nicole and Michel are plotting to drive Christina mad with fear.]]
* GenderFlip: Kathy Bates as the Fichet-{{Expy}} in the 1996 remake.
* GratuitousLatin: During the dinner, a teacher, M. Drain, says ''bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis'' ("good wine gladdens a person's heart").
* HateSink: Michel; it's telling how big an asshat he was when the woman who ''murdered him'' gets more sympathy, [[spoiler:and then in the end Nicole joins him, with the reveal that she was in on the plot to terrify Christina into having a heart attack with the very much alive Michel all along.]]
* HollywoodHeartAttack: Averted. [[spoiler:Christina's fatal heart attack at the end is ''disturbingly'' realistic.]]
* HomoeroticSubtext: The film implies that Christina and Nicole are lovers – one scene shows them in the same room in pajamas, and later they talk of running away together. This is never expressly portrayed or stated, however; there were some things you just couldn't do in 1955, even in France.
* KansasCityShuffle: It's implied that [[spoiler:Christina and the Detective may have deliberately set up Christina's apparent death, given a kid claims to see her after the Detective just so happens to be in the right place at the right time to overhear their post-murder gloating...]]
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: One of the teachers, M. Raymond, comes across as this.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: ''Les Diaboliques'' is the title of a collection of short stories by Barbey d'Aurevilly. Moreover, [[{{Epigraph}} the film opens with a quote from the preface of this book]].
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In the last scene, a kid claims to [[spoiler:have talked with Christina, who died from a heart attack earlier.]] The boy is noted to be a notorious liar, but he was right when he said that [[spoiler:he saw Michel earlier in the movie.]] So is he lying this time, or [[spoiler:has he really encountered her ghost? Or did Christina survive her attack, just like Michel faked his death?]]
%%* MindScrew
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Nicole tells Christina about a dead body found in the Seine, so Christina goes to the morgue and meets Fichet. The fact that Fichet starts investigating this case [[spoiler:ruins Nicole and Michel's plan in the end]].
* NothingIsScarier: The tension when Christina is wandering through the deserted halls of the school at night, looking for Michel, is incredible.
* NotQuiteDead: Possibly. The film hints that [[spoiler:the wife might have ''survived'' her heart attack. (Or that the kid saw her ghost. Or that the kid is a liar.)]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Fichet, the detective, employs a bit of this. (More than one observer has noted the character's similarity to Series/{{Columbo}}.)
* ThePerfectCrime:
** {{Subverted|Trope}} with Nicole's plan to kill Michel. It seems to be a perfect plan to murder him and to get off scot-free. [[spoiler:It is a actually part of a perfect plan to kill Christina.]]
** Played [[spoiler:seemingly straight but subverted, this time for real, with Michel and Nicole's plan to kill Christina.]]
* PoliceAreUseless: It's good that Fichet heard [[spoiler:Michel and Nicole discussing their plot]], but it would have been better if he'd stepped up before [[spoiler:Christina keeled over and died]].
* PrivateDetective: Fichet, the retired police inspector turned private sleuth.
* ProtagonistTitle: {{Subverted|Trope}}. The title seems to refer to Christina and Nicole, the protagonists and the murderers of Michel. [[spoiler:It actually refers to Nicole and Michel.]]
* RapeDiscretionShot: The film implies that Michel rapes Christina after the dinner with the fish.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Michel was alive all along. Nicole is his accomplice.]]
* ReverseWhodunnit: [[spoiler:The film shows us who the murders are and how they did it.]] The rest of the film is just if and how Fichet solves the murder. There's a reason this film inspired ''Columbo''.
* ScreamingWoman: Christina, when the lights go out just after she finds Michel's name written over and over on the typewriter during the climax.
* SlippingAMickey: Michel is given sedative-laced whiskey to drink so he can be carried to the bathtub and drowned.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Michel. His novel counterpart, Farnand, is DrivenToSuicide when the plot falls apart.]]
* SpookyPhotographs: Michel's ghostly face hovers in the background of a class portrait.
* SympatheticMurderer: Michel being an AssholeVictim, his murderers, Nicole and Christina get a positive point of view.
* ThoseTwoGuys: M. Raymond and M. Drain, the teachers, give comments about what happens, but they have no impact on the plot.
* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:Michel and Nicole have been in cahoots all along.]]
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: The audience is not informed about the details of Nicole's plan to murder Michel. It works as planned.
* WouldHitAGirl: Michel slaps Christina after she spills alcohol on his suit – it's drugged, and she was trying to stop him from drinking it. She then [[LaserGuidedKarma goes ahead and lets him drink]].

----