Editing Les Diaboliques (film)

{{short description|1955 film by Henri-Georges Clouzot}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{About|the 1955 film|the 1996 version|Diabolique (1996 film)}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Les Diaboliques
| image          = Lesdiaboliquesposter.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Henri-Georges Clouzot]]
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* Henri-Georges Clouzot
* Jérôme Géronimi
* René Masson{{efn|name=collab|Collaboration}}
* Frédéric Grendel{{efn|name=collab}}
}}
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[She Who Was No More]]''|[[Boileau-Narcejac]]}}
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* Henri-Georges Clouzot
* [[Georges Lourau]]
}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Simone Signoret]]
* [[Véra Clouzot]]
* [[Paul Meurisse]]
* [[Charles Vanel]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Armand Thirard]]
| editing        = [[Madeleine Gug]]
| music          = [[Georges Van Parys]]
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* Filmsonor
* Vera Film
}}
| distributor    = [[Cinédis]] 
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|1955|1|29|France}}
| runtime        = {{Plainlist|
* 114 minutes
* 107 minutes (US, 1955)
}}
| country        = France
| language       = French
| budget         = 
}}
'''''Les Diaboliques''''' ({{IPA|fr|le djabɔlik|lang}}, released as '''''Diabolique''''' in the United States and variously translated as '''''The Devils''''' or '''''The Fiends''''')<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Schneider|editor-first=Steven Jay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=czn8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|title=100 European Horror Films|series=BFI Screen Guides|location=London|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|year=2007|page=71|isbn=978-1-84457-164-2|oclc=175215721}}</ref> is a 1955 French [[psychological horror]] [[thriller film]] co-written and directed by [[Henri-Georges Clouzot]], starring [[Simone Signoret]], [[Véra Clouzot]], [[Paul Meurisse]] and [[Charles Vanel]]. It is based on the 1952 novel ''[[She Who Was No More]]'' (''Celle qui n'était plus'') by [[Boileau-Narcejac|Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac]].

The story blends elements of thriller and [[Horror film|horror]], with the plot focusing on a woman and her husband's [[mistress (lover)|mistress]] who conspire to murder the man. It was the 10th highest-grossing film of the year in France, with a total of 3,674,380 admissions.<ref name="JPBox Office">{{cite web |website=JP Box-Office |url=https://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=9579&affich=france |access-date=22 December 2017 |title=Les Diaboliques (1955) |language=fr}}</ref> The film also received the 1954 [[Louis Delluc Prize]].

Clouzot, after finishing ''[[The Wages of Fear]]'' (1953), optioned the [[screenplay]] rights, preventing [[Alfred Hitchcock]] from making the film.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=13}} The film helped inspire Hitchcock's ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' (1960).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hawkins |first=Joan |title="See it From the Beginning": Hitchcock's Reconstruction of Film History |journal=Framing Hitchcock: Selected Essays from the Hitchcock Annual |page=382}}</ref> [[Robert Bloch]], the author of the novel ''[[Psycho (novel)|Psycho]]'', stated in an interview that his all-time favorite horror film was ''Les Diaboliques''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mgpfeff.home.sprynet.com/lofficier_interview1.html |website=The Unofficial Robert Bloch Website |access-date=October 23, 2010 |title=INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT BLOCH, Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212121219/http://mgpfeff.home.sprynet.com/lofficier_interview1.html |archive-date=February 12, 2015}}</ref>

==Plot==
A second-rate boarding school in [[Saint-Cloud]], [[Hauts-de-Seine]],<!--As seen in the film script https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=diabolique-1955--> in the [[Paris metropolitan area]],<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Wood, Michael |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n05/michael-wood/at-the-movies |title=At the Movies |magazine=[[London Review of Books]] |date=2011-03-03 |volume=33 |issue=5 |page=23 |access-date=2018-06-06}}</ref> is run by the tyrannical and cruel Michel Delassalle. The school is owned, though, by Delassalle's teacher wife, the frail Christina, an émigrée from Venezuela.<!--Stated in this article as well as the film script: http://www.terranerdica.com.br/index.php/10-filmes-franceses-que-voce-precisa-assistir/--> Michel also has an extramarital relationship with Nicole Horner, another teacher at the school. Rather than antagonism, the two women have a somewhat close relationship, primarily based on their apparent mutual hatred of Michel. He is cruel to the students, beats Nicole, and mocks Christina about her heart condition.

Unable to stand his mistreatment any longer, Nicole devises a plan to get rid of Michel forever. Though hesitant at first, Christina ultimately consents to help Nicole. Using a threatened divorce to lure Michel to Nicole's apartment building in [[Niort]], a town several hundred kilometers away, Christina sedates him. The two women then drown him in a bathtub and, driving back to the school, dump his body in the neglected swimming pool. When his corpse floats to the top, they think it will appear to have been an accident. Almost everything goes according to their plans until the body fails to surface. Michel's corpse is nowhere to be found when the pool is drained. Afterwards, the suit that Michel had been wearing when they drowned him is returned from the dry cleaners. When the proprietor of the dry cleaners also returns a key to a room in a nearby hotel that was with the clothes, Christina goes to the room. There, the cleaning man tells her that Michel had kept the room for a while but was rarely if ever seen and stored nothing there.

Nicole sees in the newspaper that the police have found the corpse in the [[Seine]]. However, when Christina goes to the morgue, she finds it is not actually Michel's body. There, she meets Alfred Fichet, a retired senior policeman now working as a private detective. He becomes involved in the case, much to Nicole's chagrin.

Christina, Nicole and other teachers find a student who claims that Michel has ordered him to rake leaves as punishment for breaking a window. Accusing him of lying, Christina confiscates his slingshot. Under the stress, Christina's heart condition worsens, and her doctors fear she may die soon unless she maintains strict bed rest. When the school photograph is taken, the result seems to show Michel's spectral figure in the window behind the students. Unnerved, Nicole leaves the school; she asks Christina to accompany her, but she is too ill and afraid.

Christina, overcome by fear, confesses everything to Alfred. He does not believe her, but he investigates the pool. That night, Christina hears noises and wanders around the school. When she realizes that someone is following her, she runs back to her room. There, she finds Michel's corpse submerged in the bathtub, which is filled with water. Michel rises from the tub, and Christina suffers a fatal heart attack. Michel and Nicole have set up Christina from the beginning, with Michel acting as a vengeful ghost to scare Christina to death. However, Alfred hears their celebration and figures out everything, telling them they will be sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison, depending on the judge.

The school is closed in the wake of the scandal. As the children and teachers leave, the same boy who had earlier broken a window breaks another. When asked how he recovered his slingshot, the boy says that Christina gave it to him.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Simone Signoret]] as Nicole Horner
* [[Véra Clouzot]] as Christina Delassalle
* [[Paul Meurisse]] as Michel Delassalle
* [[Charles Vanel]] as Alfred Fichet
* [[Jean Brochard]] as Plantiveau
* [[Thérèse Dorny]] as M<sup>me</sup> Herboux
* [[Michel Serrault]] as M. Raymond
* [[Georges Chamarat]] as Dr. Loisy
* [[Robert Dalban]] as the gas station attendant
* [[Camille Guérini]] as the photographer
* [[Jacques Hilling]] as the employee of the forensic institute
* [[Jean Lefebvre]] as the soldier
* [[Aminda Montserrat]] as M<sup>me</sup> Plantiveau
* [[Jean Témerson]] as the hotel waiter
* [[Jacques Varennes]] as M. Bridoux
* [[Georges Poujouly]] as Soudieu
* [[Noël Roquevert]] as M. Herboux
* [[Pierre Larquey]] as M. Drain
* [[Johnny Hallyday]] as a student (uncredited)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr/imprime.php?pk=47752|title=Les Diaboliques - CF|website=cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr|language=fr|access-date=2019-11-03}}</ref>
* [[Madeleine Suffel]] as the degreaser (uncredited)
}}

==Production==
===Writing===
It was Clouzot's wife Vera who drew his attention to [[She Who Was No More|the Boileau-Narcejac novel]]. Clouzot read it through the night and optioned the rights in the morning.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1112.html|title=Histoire orale : le tournage des " Diaboliques " de Clouzot raconté par ceux qui l'ont vécu - La Cinémathèque française|website=www.cinematheque.fr|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref> He and his brother Jean (who took the pseudonym Jérôme Géronimi)<ref name=":1" /> spent 18 months adapting the novel. In the book, the action takes place between [[Enghien-les-Bains]] and [[Nantes]] but Clouzot transposed it to [[Saint-Cloud]] and [[Niort]], his own birthplace.<ref name=":1" /> He wasn't particularly interested in the insurance scam that was the criminal motive in the book. He switched the gender of the murderers and invented the private-school setting.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Le cinéma policier français|last=Guérif|first=François|year=1986|publisher=Artefact|isbn=2851994034|page=113|oclc=489779740}}</ref> Susan Hayward suggests that the gender switch made by Clouzot was caused not so much by censorship considerations (in the source novel, Lucienne and Mireille turn out to be a pair of lesbian lovers), but by his desire to create a sizeable role for his wife.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=15}} The book has only one principal female character, Lucienne, since the supposed victim, Mireille disappears early on. Vera with her distinctly feminine demeanor was ill-suited for the role of Lucienne (called Nicole in the film). So in Clouzot's script, Mireille (now named Christina) is the one who has a weak heart, and is the object of manipulation of her husband Michel and his mistress Nicole. Clouzot also followed the convention that the culprits should be exposed by the detective in the end (another departure from the novel where the authors let them get away).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/frenchfilmnoir0000buss_n0r7/page/24/mode/2up|title=French Film Noir|last=Buss|first=Robin|date=2001|publisher=[[Marion Boyars Publishers|Marion Boyars]]|isbn=0-7145-3036-0|location=London|page=24|oclc=44652477|url-access=registration}}</ref>

===Casting===
Clouzot cast [[Simone Signoret]] in the role of Nicole. He previously filmed her husband [[Yves Montand]] in ''[[The Wages of Fear]]'', and the two couples became friends. The director was also aware of Vera's limitations as an actress and needed someone to lend her support in such a demanding role. Signoret signed an eight-week contract but the shooting actually took 16 weeks. She ended up being paid for only eight weeks of work despite staying until the end of the filming because she neglected to read the small print.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=16}} Signoret's co-star Paul Meurisse also recalls in his memoirs that the actress was further bemused by Clouzot's constant attempts to find clever ways of lighting Vera's face while muting the light on Signoret so she wouldn't upstage his wife.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Les éperons de la liberté|last=Meurisse|first=Paul|date=1979|publisher=R. Laffont|isbn=2221002644|location=Paris|oclc=5618616}}</ref>

Clouzot knew [[Paul Meurisse]] back from 1939 when the latter was trying to pursue a singing career. Clouzot then was trying to sell his song lyrics to [[Édith Piaf|Edith Piaf]], Meurisse's lover at the time. By the late 1940s Meurisse had become an established stage and screen actor, known for the roles of icy and sophisticated villains, and he seemed a natural choice for the role of Michel.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|pp=17–18}}

The film featured two Clouzot regulars: [[Pierre Larquey]] as M. Drain and [[Noël Roquevert]] as M. Herboux. [[Michel Serrault]] made his screen debut as M. Raymond, one of the schoolteachers. [[Charles Vanel]]—who previously co-starred in Clouzot's ''The Wages of Fear''—was cast as the seemingly inept Inspector Fichet.

Clouzot also auditioned 300 children and selected 35. Among them were Jean-Philippe Smet (the future [[Johnny Hallyday]]), [[Patrick Dewaere]]'s brother Yves-Marie Maurin, and [[Georges Poujouly]], who previously received acclaim in [[René Clément]]'s ''[[Forbidden Games]]''.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=19}}

===Filming===
The filming began on August 18, 1954 and finished on November 30 the same year.<ref name=":0" /> Clouzot asked his assistant Michel Romanoff to find a suitable filming location for the boarding school. The latter discovered a decrepit chateau in [[L'Étang-la-Ville|L'Etang-la-Ville]] between Saint-Cloud and the [[Bois de Boulogne|Bois-du-Boulogne]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/cinema/20171027.OBS6631/les-diaboliques-histoire-d-un-tournage-electrique.html|title=Les Diaboliques", histoire d'un tournage électrique|last=Loison|first=Guillaume|date=2017-11-07|website=L'Obs|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref> The building and its surroundings matched the director's vision perfectly since they projected the desired mood of decay and neglect. The adjacent swimming pool was dirty and full of slime. Clouzot spent five weeks shooting at this location.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=20}}

The screenplay placed Nicole's house in Niort, but the actual house used for filming was in [[Montfort-l'Amaury]], just opposite the building that previously appeared in Clouzot's ''[[Le Corbeau]]''. The morgue scenes were shot in the Institut Médico-légal in Paris. The rest was filmed at Saint-Maurice Studios southeast of Paris which took  an additional nine weeks.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=20}}

The cinematographer, [[Armand Thirard]], used two camera crews to speed up the shooting that was falling behind schedule. Despite his efforts, the filming took twice longer than the projected 48 days.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|pp=20–21}}

Originally the film was to be called ''Les Veuves'' (''The Widows'') but this was deemed unmarketable. Eleven weeks into filming it was changed to ''Les Démoniaques''.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=13}} Eventually it was renamed ''Les Diaboliques'' but this title was already used for [[Les Diaboliques (short story collection)|a collection of short stories]] by the 19th-century writer [[Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly|Barbey d'Aurevilly]]. Clouzot was permitted to use this title but only on the condition that he give the author a proper mention.{{sfn|Hayward|2005|p=13}} He did it by opening the film with a quote from the preface to d'Aurevilly's work: "A portrait is always moral when it is tragic and shows the horror of the things it represents."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Framed: Lesbians, Feminists, and Media Culture|last=Mayne|first=Judith|year=2000|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=0816634564|location=Minneapolis|page=49|oclc=43555067}}</ref>

==Release==
The film created a sensation upon its original release and was a success at the box office with 3,674,380 admissions in France alone. It has often been likened to the films of [[Alfred Hitchcock]]; some sources say that Hitchcock missed out on purchasing the rights to the Boileau and Narcejac novel by just a few hours, Clouzot getting to the authors first.<ref>[[François Truffaut]], in his book-length interview ''Hitchcock/Truffaut'' (1967), suggested that Boileau and Narcejac then wrote ''[[The Living and the Dead (Boileau-Narcejac novel)|D'Entre les Morts]]'' specifically for Hitchcock, who adapted the latter book for ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'' (1958). However, Narcejac later refuted Truffaut's statement.</ref> The end credits contain an early example of an "anti-[[spoiler (media)|spoiler]] message".<ref name="gferraratcm">{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/73044/diabolique#articles-reviews |title=Diabolique (1955) - Articles - TCM.com |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=2017-01-24}}</ref>

{{Verse translation
|Ne soyez pas DIABOLIQUES!
Ne détruisez pas l'intérêt que pourraient prendre vos amis à ce film.
Ne leur racontez pas ce que vous avez vu.
Merci pour eux.<ref>{{cite web |title=Test Blu-ray / Les Diaboliques, réalisé par Henri-Georges Clouzot – Homepopcorn.fr |date=28 November 2017 |url=http://homepopcorn.fr/test-blu-ray-les-diaboliques-realise-par-henri-georges-clouzot/ |access-date=22 March 2021 |language=fr-FR}}</ref>
|Don't be DIABOLICAL!
Do not destroy the interest that your friends may have in this movie.
Do not tell them what you have seen.
Thank you, on their behalf.<ref name="gferraratcm"/>}}

==Critical reception==
[[Bosley Crowther]] gave the film an enthusiastic review in ''The New York Times'', calling it "one of the dandiest mystery dramas that has shown here" and "a pip of a murder thriller, ghost story and character play rolled into one". He added "the writing and the visual construction are superb, and the performance by top-notch French actors on the highest level of sureness and finesse."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/11/22/archives/the-screen-a-chiller-of-a-thriller-diabolique-a-french-film-at-fine.html|title=The Screen: A Chiller of a Thriller; 'Diabolique,' a French Film, at Fine Arts|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|date=1955-11-22|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> The ''[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]'' wrote, "If you like a good mystery and can stand it fairly morbid and uncompromising as to detail, this is one of the best offerings in a long time." The reviewer added, "You may suspect, as I did, one of the answers as the film nears its finale, but if you solve it all, you've missed your profession."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Tinee|first=Mae|date=1955-12-26|title='Diabolique' Is Top Notch Thriller|newspaper=[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' was more critical: “Although this has a few hallucinating bits of terror, the film is primarily a creaky-door type of melodrama. Its macabre aspects and lack of sympathy for the characters make this a hybrid which flounders between a blasting look at human infamy and an out-and-out contrived whodunit."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/1954/film/reviews/les-diaboliques-1200417881/|title=Les Diaboliques|author=Variety Staff|date=1955-01-01|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> [[National Board of Review|The National Board of Review]] named it among the best foreign films of 1955,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1955/|title=1955 Archives|website=National Board of Review|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> and called it "a genuine thriller—a shocking, satisfying chunk of ''Grand Guignol'' psychological suspense."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/500bestbritishfo00verm/page/121|title=500 Best British and Foreign Films to Buy, Rent, or Videotape|year=1988|publisher=W. Morrow|others=National Board of Review of Motion Pictures (U.S.)|isbn=0688077986|editor-last=Vermilye|editor-first=Jerry|edition=1st|location=New York|page=121|oclc=16901342|url-access=registration}}</ref>

British reviews were negative on first release. [[Milton Shulman]] in the ''[[Sunday Express]]'' accused the film of "calculated malevolence", and commented that "it is no trick to sicken an audience by such blunt methods as these."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Review of Diabolique|last=Shulman|first=Milton|date=1955-12-04|newspaper=[[Sunday Express]]}}</ref> [[C. A. Lejeune]] in ''[[The Observer]]'' called it "extremely clever and very horrid," and complained about "a vogue at the moment for the horrid in entertainment."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Review of Diabolique|last=Lejeune|first=C. A.|author-link=C. A. Lejeune|date=1955-12-04|newspaper=[[The Observer]]}}</ref> Reg Whiteley in the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' described it as "a suspenseful but sordid slice of French life," and exclaimed: "Just how horrible can films get?"<ref>{{Cite news|title=Review of Diabolique|last=Whiteley|first=Reg|date=1955-12-02|newspaper=[[Daily Mirror]]}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]], reviewing the 1995 re-release, wrote: "The famous plot of the movie usually deceives first-time viewers, at least up to a point. The final revelations are somewhat disappointing, but Clouzot doesn't linger over them. The most disturbing elements of the movie are implied, not seen."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/diabolique-1995|title=Diabolique movie review & film summary (1955)|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=1995-02-17|website=[[RogerEbert.com]]|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' commented that the film "makes for a great piece of Guignol misanthropy" where "everyone is in the end a victim, and their actions operate like snares setting traps that leave them grasping for survival."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/diabolique-1955|title=Diabolique|magazine=[[Time Out London]]|date=7 September 2012|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref>

On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''Les Diaboliques'' holds an approval rating of 95% based on 85 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Cruel, dark, but undeniably effective, ''Diabolique'' is a suspense thriller as effective as Hitchcock's best work and with a brilliant twist ending."<ref name="rottomatoes">{{cite web |title=Diabolique |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1032980_diabolique |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=31 January 2023}}</ref>

==Awards==
*1954: [[Louis Delluc Prize]] – Best Film
*1955: [[New York Film Critics Circle|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]] – Best Foreign Film
*1956: [[List of Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay winners|Edgar Allan Poe Awards]] – Best Foreign Film<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theedgars.com/awards/category-list-best-foreign-film/|title=Category List – Best Foreign film {{!}} Edgars Database|access-date=2019-11-03}}</ref>

==Legacy and remakes==
The film gained additional press when, only five years after its release, Véra Clouzot died of a heart attack, aged 46, somewhat mirroring her character in the film, who also had heart problems.

''Les Diaboliques'' is now considered a classic of the [[horror film|horror genre]] and film in general. [[Kim Newman]] wrote in ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'': "The horrific mystery has lost only a fraction of its power over the years, though literally dozens of films (see: ''[[Deathtrap (film)|Deathtrap]]'', ''[[Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte|Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte]]'', ''[[Games (film)|Games]]'' etc.) have borrowed part or all of its tricky storyline. This was one of the first movies to depend on a twist ending which forces you to reassess everything you thought you had been told earlier in the film."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/les-diaboliques-review/|title=Les Diaboliques|last=Newman|first=Kim|date=2011-01-01|magazine=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|access-date=2019-11-05}}</ref> The [[British Film Institute]] included it in their list of the "100 Best Thrillers of All Time", calling it "a compelling, grisly thriller... capped by an unforgettable twist ending."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/100-essential-thrillers|title=100 thrillers to see before you die|date=16 October 2017 |publisher=British Film Institute|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' listed is as No 19 among the 25 best horror films of all time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/22/les-diaboliques-clouzot|title=Les Diaboliques: No 19 best horror film of all time|last=O'Neill|first=Phelim|date=2010-10-22|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref>

The scene in which Christina's husband emerges from the bathtub ranked number 49 on [[Bravo (US TV channel)|Bravo]]'s ''100 Scariest Movie Moments''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thefilmspectrum.com/?page_id=7124|title=BRAVO's 100 Scariest Movie Moments|website=The Film Spectrum|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref>

In 1964, TV writer/producer/director [[Joseph Stefano]] was inspired by this film to create a pilot for a thriller anthology series for the [[American Broadcasting Company]] (ABC). Titled ''The Unknown'', the pilot failed to take off. Stefano then rewrote and reshot it—adding fantasy elements in the process—as an episode of ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' called "The Forms of Things Unknown". Both versions starred Vera Miles as Kassia Paine, Barbara Rush as Leonora Raymond, and Scott Marlowe as their sadistic blackmailer-returned-from-the-dead, Andre Pavan.

The 1967 film ''[[Games (film)|Games]]'', written by [[Gene R. Kearney]] and directed by [[Curtis Harrington]], and starring [[James Caan]] and [[Katharine Ross]], has a different basic situation, but similar twists at the end, and again features [[Simone Signoret]] as the corrupt woman of mystery.

British filmmaker [[Jimmy Sangster]] cited it as a major influence on his writing and directing, stating: "most of my 'psycho' type movies ... were derivative of each other and they all went back to my original inspiration: ''Les Diaboliques''. I'm not the only one to follow that path. I guess I just did it more than most."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Hammer Films' Psychological Thrillers, 1950–1972|last=Huckvale|first=David|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4766-0421-3|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|page=11|oclc=870994470}}</ref>

An American version of ''Les Diaboliques'', titled ''[[Reflections of Murder]]'', was made by ABC in 1974, starring [[Tuesday Weld]], [[Joan Hackett]], and [[Sam Waterston]]. In 1993, another made-for-television film remake was made; this one was titled ''House of Secrets'', and it starred [[Melissa Gilbert]]. In 1996, the film was remade again as ''[[Diabolique (1996 film)|Diabolique]]'', adapted by [[Don Roos]], directed by [[Jeremiah S. Chechik]], and starring [[Sharon Stone]] and [[Isabelle Adjani]] in the leading female roles, with [[Chazz Palminteri]] as the husband and [[Kathy Bates]] as the detective.

==Home media==
The film was released on DVD by [[The Criterion Collection]] in July 1999 and was then re-released on DVD and Blu-ray in May 2011. The latter release features selected-scene commentary by French-film scholar Kelley Conway, a new video introduction by Serge Bromberg, and a new video interview with novelist and film critic [[Kim Newman]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Diabolique |url=https://criterion.com/films/575-diabolique |publisher=[[The Criterion Collection]]}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Hayward |first=Susan |url=https://archive.org/details/lesdiaboliques0000hayw |title=Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955) |series=French Film Guides |location=Urbana and Chicago |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-252-03089-5 |url-access=registration}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1859-diabolique-murder-considered-as-one-of-the-fine-arts ''Diabolique: Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts''] – an essay by [[Terrence Rafferty]] at [[The Criterion Collection]] 
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/53-diabolique ''Diabolique''] – an essay by [[Danny Peary]] at The Criterion Collection

{{Henri-Georges Clouzot|state=autocollapse}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaboliques, Les}}
[[Category:1955 films]]
[[Category:1955 horror films]]
[[Category:1950s French films]]
[[Category:1950s French-language films]]
[[Category:1950s horror thriller films]]
[[Category:1950s psychological horror films]]
[[Category:1950s psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Edgar Award–winning works]]
[[Category:Fiction about mariticide]]
[[Category:Films about uxoricide]]
[[Category:Films about adultery in France]]
[[Category:Films based on French novels]]
[[Category:Films based on mystery novels]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Boileau-Narcejac]]
[[Category:Films directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot]]
[[Category:Films scored by Georges Van Parys]]
[[Category:Films set in boarding schools]]
[[Category:Films set in Île-de-France]]
[[Category:Films set in Nouvelle-Aquitaine]]
[[Category:Films shot at Saint-Maurice Studios]]
[[Category:Films shot in Paris]]
[[Category:Films shot in Yvelines]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Henri-Georges Clouzot]]
[[Category:French black-and-white films]]
[[Category:French horror thriller films]]
[[Category:French psychological horror films]]
[[Category:French psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Louis Delluc Prize winners]]