Diabolique (1996)

The wife and mistress of the sadistic dean of an exclusive prep school conspire to murder him.

Director:

Jeremiah S. Chechik

Writers:

Pierre Boileau (novel), Thomas Narcejac (novel),

Stars:

Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, Chazz Palminteri

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sharon Stone	...	Nicole Horner
Isabelle Adjani	...	Mia Baran
Chazz Palminteri	...	Guy Baran
Kathy Bates	...	Det. Shirley Vogel
Spalding Gray	...	Simon Veatch
Shirley Knight	...	Edie Danziger
Allen Garfield	...	Leo Katzman
Adam Hann-Byrd	...	Erik Pretzer
Donal Logue	...	Video Photographer #1
Diana Bellamy	...	Ms. Vawze
Clea Lewis	...	Lisa Campos
J.J. Abrams	...	Video Photographer #2 (as Jeffrey Abrams)
O'Neal Compton	...	Irv Danziger
Bingo O'Malley	...	Gannon
Stephen Liska	...	PHP Officer

Storyline

The wife and mistress of a cruel school master collaborate in a carefully planned and executed attempt to murder him. The plan goes well until the body, which has been strategically dumped, disappears. The strain starts to tell on the two women as a retired police investigator who is looking into the disappearance on a whim begins to think that they know more than they are telling, and their mental state is not helped when their victim is seen, apparently alive and well by one of the pupils.

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Plot Keywords:

mistress | school | murder | naked woman | french teacher | 

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Taglines:

Two women. One man. The combination can be murder.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence/terror, sexuality and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

22 March 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Diabólicas

Filming Locations:

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$17,100,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ABC Productions, Marvin Worth Productions, Morgan Creek Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sharon Stone and the film's producer James G. Robinson fell out over her refusal to do a nude scene.

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Goofs

The lines of text on the computer monitor reach the bottom of the screen start scrolling. In the close-up, the text is just starting to be written again.

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Quotes

Voguel: It's not your fault - it's *men!" Testosterone! They should put it in bombs.

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Connections

Referenced in Kid Notorious: Hip Hop to the Godfather (2003)

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Soundtracks

"In The Arms Of Love"
Written by Marco Marinageli and Frank P. Maddlone
Performed by Sherry Williams

User Reviews

bad bad bad

This movie is worse than bad. The credits do not include the fact that it is based on the wonderful earlier version, from 1954, or the book it was based on- and maybe it's just for the best. A terrible movie; the most unsubtle movie I ever saw. And somehow, the beautiful Isabel Adjani doesn't look so good in English. The plot in this version isn't realistic, the ending is pathetic, the twists are shallow. This movie deserves all the bad words in the English language. I gave it a 1, which it deserves only for Adjani's clothes. One of the worst movies of 1996, perhaps of all time.