1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b2b2264e_16f8_4574_9fc1_982033829030.jpeg]] |
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3 | ->''A painting is always quite moral when it is tragic and it presents the horror of the things it depicts.'' |
4 | -->-- Barbey d'Aurevilly |
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6 | ''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. |
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8 | 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. |
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10 | Rumpled, folksy detective Fichet, played by Charles Vanel, was the inspiration for ''Series/{{Columbo}}''. |
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12 | [[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 Creator/IsabelleAdjani 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). |
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14 | 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. |
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16 | There's also a quasi-remake from Hong Kong's Creator/ShawBrothers studios, titled ''Film/{{HEX}}''. |
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18 | ---- |
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20 | !!This movie contains examples of: |
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22 | * 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.]] |
23 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Michel and Nicole succeed in killing Christine, but are brought to justice immediately afterwards.]] |
24 | * 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. |
25 | * 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. |
26 | * 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.]] |
27 | * CoolOldGuy: Fichet. |
28 | * CutHimselfShaving: Nicole gives a lame excuse for a black eye that was apparently caused by Michel. |
29 | * 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. |
30 | * DeathByAdaptation: The film tweaks the initial murder plot of the novel, but [[spoiler:Nicole and Michel]] actually succeed in [[spoiler:killing Christina.]] |
31 | * DisposingOfABody: [[spoiler:Or appearing to, anyway.]] |
32 | * DomesticAbuse: Michel is physically and emotionally abusive toward both Christina and Nicole. |
33 | * DoNotSpoilThisEnding: Translated from French, the final title card after the film reads: |
34 | -->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. |
35 | %%* DrivingADesk |
36 | * EmptyPilesOfClothing: The women freak out when the suit Michel was drowned in [[spoiler:is returned to the school from a dry cleaners.]] |
37 | * 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.]] |
38 | * {{Epigraph}}: The films opens with a quote by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly. |
39 | * {{Fainting}}: Christina, after the swimming pool where Michel's body was dumped is drained empty... [[spoiler:and the body is gone.]] |
40 | * FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Michel wasn't dead at all. It was all a ruse to fool Christina, and literally frighten her to death.]] |
41 | * 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. |
42 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: Early scenes establish that 1) Christina has a lot of money of her own, and 2) she has a heart condition. |
43 | * FrightDeathTrap: [[spoiler:Christina, driven wild by fright, has her fatal heart attack after Michel rises from the tub.]] |
44 | * {{Gaslighting}}: [[spoiler:Nicole and Michel are plotting to drive Christina mad with fear.]] |
45 | * GenderFlip: Kathy Bates as the Fichet-{{Expy}} in the 1996 remake. |
46 | * GratuitousLatin: During the dinner, a teacher, M. Drain, says ''bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis'' ("good wine gladdens a person's heart"). |
47 | * 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.]] |
48 | * HollywoodHeartAttack: Averted. [[spoiler:Christina's fatal heart attack at the end is ''disturbingly'' realistic.]] |
49 | * 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. |
50 | * 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...]] |
51 | * KnowNothingKnowItAll: One of the teachers, M. Raymond, comes across as this. |
52 | * 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]]. |
53 | * 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?]] |
54 | %%* MindScrew |
55 | * 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]]. |
56 | * NothingIsScarier: The tension when Christina is wandering through the deserted halls of the school at night, looking for Michel, is incredible. |
57 | * 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.)]] |
58 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: Fichet, the detective, employs a bit of this. (More than one observer has noted the character's similarity to Series/{{Columbo}}.) |
59 | * ThePerfectCrime: |
60 | ** {{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.]] |
61 | ** Played [[spoiler:seemingly straight but subverted, this time for real, with Michel and Nicole's plan to kill Christina.]] |
62 | * 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]]. |
63 | * PrivateDetective: Fichet, the retired police inspector turned private sleuth. |
64 | * 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.]] |
65 | * RapeDiscretionShot: The film implies that Michel rapes Christina after the dinner with the fish. |
66 | * TheReveal: [[spoiler:Michel was alive all along. Nicole is his accomplice.]] |
67 | * 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''. |
68 | * ScreamingWoman: Christina, when the lights go out just after she finds Michel's name written over and over on the typewriter during the climax. |
69 | * SlippingAMickey: Michel is given sedative-laced whiskey to drink so he can be carried to the bathtub and drowned. |
70 | * SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Michel. His novel counterpart, Farnand, is DrivenToSuicide when the plot falls apart.]] |
71 | * SpookyPhotographs: Michel's ghostly face hovers in the background of a class portrait. |
72 | * SympatheticMurderer: Michel being an AssholeVictim, his murderers, Nicole and Christina get a positive point of view. |
73 | * ThoseTwoGuys: M. Raymond and M. Drain, the teachers, give comments about what happens, but they have no impact on the plot. |
74 | * TwistEnding: [[spoiler:Michel and Nicole have been in cahoots all along.]] |
75 | * UnspokenPlanGuarantee: The audience is not informed about the details of Nicole's plan to murder Michel. It works as planned. |
76 | * 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]]. |
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