TCM 365 Project Day 11: Les Diaboliques (1955)

TCM 365 Project Day 11:  Les Diaboliques (1955) directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot

Causing a major sensation upon its release, Les Diaboliques launched the international acclaim of the already acclaimed French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot.  The tale of the murderous scheme by a wronged wife and her husband's mistress was adapted from the pulp hit novel "She Who Was No More"- whose filming rights were snatched by Clouzot in the literal final hours from the British upstart Alfred Hitchcock- who later admitted that his intentions to film Les Diaboliques greatly influenced his vision for Psycho.  The authors later made it up to Hitch by writing a suspense novel just for him to adapt- "D'Entre les Mortes", which was filmed in 1958 as Vertigo.

Featuring haunting performances by the brilliant Vera Clouzot (wife of the director) and the legendary Simone
Signoret (French film legend and Nina Simone namesake), Les Diaboliques has secured its place as a masterpiece of the Horror genre.  The New York Times Film Critic Circle awarded it the best foreign film of 1955.  Notable for its "twist ending", the film features one of the earliest uses of a credits title card warning viewers not to "...be devilish and spoil the ending by telling friends"- a trick that M. Night Shyamalan never figured out.

"Why didn't we think of that, McClane?"

See Les Diaboliques at IMDB