Les Diaboliques

Les Diaboliques (1955)

a film by Henri-Georges Clouzot

Les Diaboliques is a very good suspense film. It has nothing to envy to the vibrant Alfred Hitchcock's movies, this is a thriller with all the twists and the malice. It features two stylish female characters and an electrifying plot.

This is the story of Cristina, a frail wife and Nicole, a seductive mistress decided to end with the dysfunctional relation that bounds them the same man, the tyrannical and mean director of a boarding school owned by Cristina and where Nicole is a teacher. The have constructed a plot to get rid of the man that abuses them both physically and emotionally and as the movie starts we jump into the moving train of their plan. In words of one of the characters: "I may be reactionaty, but this is absolutely astounding -the legal wife consoling the mistress! No, no and no!".

This story sets up in the closed universe of the boarding school and although some of the actions happen outside of it, the tension is enhanced by the characters and relationships established in this small space. It is in this setting that Clouzot constructs images that are all capable of lying and it is this deceiving character what enhances the mystery and lead the thriller.

Les Diaboliques is a thriller per excellence. Clouzot puts in images the psychology of the characters and a take of the glass with a sedative, the water dripping on the plastic using to cover the body, a lighter found were a body should be, all these are windows into the minds of the characters and is their anxiety and despair reflected in this images what tells the story and conducts the thrill. This is the kind of movie that engages, keeps one on the edge of the seat and it is hard to watch in the darkness.