What is it that makes a film a bona fide classic or even a landmark in cinema? It's the fact that it continues to endear new and much younger target audiences, in spite of being more than half a century old. It has to do with timeless story-telling, stylistic trademarks and unequalled suspense. But most of all it's about being authentic. Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Les Diaboliques" is an authentic pioneer of murder mysteries/conspiracy thrillers. By this I mean that we've all seen numerous movies like it, so over the years we have seen all the plot twists, red herrings and clichés you can possibly imagine yourself, but in this case they honestly come across as derivative or predictable. This film is authentic while all the others copied stuff from it, but your cinematic mind ability separates the pioneers from the copycats. Fundamentally speaking, "Les Diaboliques" is a simple thriller with a logical set-up and only a limited cast of characters, but the professional elaboration elevates it to a near-perfect masterpiece. The rich but both mentally and physically weak Christina Delassalle is petrified of her tyrannical husband Michel, with whom she runs a private boarding school near Paris. Even Michel's cocky mistress Nicole is sick and tired of his cruel and dominant attitude, and thus she tries hard to convince Christina to murder their mutual bed partner and make it look like an accident. When the women finally decide to execute their perfect assassination plan, it's the start of a truly tense and nail-biting puzzle. I deliberately prefer to cease with describing the plot at this point. Most reviews, and even the synopsis on the back of the DVD box, go quite a bit further in describing the two women's further ordeals, but I think the less you know, the more you'll be overwhelmed. The used the word a couple of sentences ago already, but will do it again
"Les Diaboliques" is pretty much close to perfection. The pace of the film is slow but incredibly moody and it doesn't feature a single moment of boredom. Quite the contrary, I personally had the impression that I was continuously moving more and more towards the edge of my seat. The tone is serious and unsettling, but there's nevertheless room for small portions of subtle comedy, like the two school teachers worrying about their wine and the interlude with the drunken soldier. The inescapable suspense is often built up through very simplistic yet effective tricks, like ingenious cinematography, and patient editing. The acting performances are phenomenal. I can't even pick a favorite performance, because they were all so different but equally mesmerizing. I've read some articles which stated that "Les Diaboliques" is the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made. Personally I think even that is still an understatement, as this is much better than most of Hitchcock's films I've seen already (excluding "Psycho", "Strangers on a Train" and "The Birds").
Review of Diabolique
