Line #7 Film/LesDiaboliques


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