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Film details
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Featuring
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Director
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Country
France
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Year
1955
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Genre
Drama
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Alternative titles
- Le Diabolique Alternative French
- The Fiends Alternative
Introduction
“It’s extraordinary how well it manipulates the audience, one moment stimulating our base desires, the next twisting our expectations into knots.”
Wally Hammond, Time Out, 1995
Based on a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac – whose work would later provide the basis for Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) – Les Diaboliques is among the darkest of French thrillers.
At a rundown school, the wife (Vera Clouzot, the director’s wife) and mistress (Simone Signoret) of the tyrannical headmaster (Paul Meurisse) conspire to kill him, dumping his body in the school swimming pool. This memorably seedy setting is the perfect backdrop for Clouzot’s unstintingly misanthropic vision.
Matching his nail-biting The Wages of Fear (1953), the director expertly builds a feeling of mounting dread after the corpse goes missing, culminating with a twist ending that pushes the film into the realm of nightmare. The end credits contain a plea to viewers not to let the secret out.
Hitchcock was a great admirer of Les Diaboliques and is said to have shown it to his crew during the production of Psycho (1960).
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Nicole Horner
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Christina Delasalle
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Michel Delasalle
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Inspector Fichet
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Plantiveau, gardener
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Mme Herboux
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M Raymond, school prefect
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Doctor Loisy
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petrol station attendant
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.
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morgue employee
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soldier
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.
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hotel employee
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Prof Bridoux
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Soudieu
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Moinet, pupil
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M Herboux
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M Drain, school prefect
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[José]
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[Patard]
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[Ritberger]
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[De Gascuel]
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[student]
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[cast member]
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[cast member]
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[cast member]
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[cast member]
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[cast member]
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[cast member]
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Credits
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Direction:
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Director
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[Assistant Director]
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Script Supervisor
Production:
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Production Company
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In Association with
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Producer
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Unit Manager
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Production Manager
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Studio
Writing:
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Screenplay/Dialogue
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Screenplay/Dialogue
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With the collaboration of
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With the collaboration of
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Based on 'Celle que n'était plus' by
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Based on 'Celle que n'était plus' by
Photography:
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Director of Photography
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Camera Operator
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Cameraman
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Cameraman
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Cameraman
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Assistant Operator
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Assistant Operator
Special Effects:
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Special Effects
Editing:
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Editor
Design:
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Art Director
Music:
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Music
Sound:
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Sound Recording
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Sound System
Consultant:
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Lab
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Music Publisher
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The Greatest Films of All Time 2012
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