Diabolique

I saw the 1996 American remake of Diabolique, so when I watched the original 1955 French film, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, I knew the twist ending. I can only imagine what it was like to see it without knowing, much like Psycho or The Sixth Sense. Diabolique was perhaps the first film to employ a twist ending, and even though the film is now 65 years old, I wouldn't dare spoil it. In fact, after the film ends, there is a title card asking the audience not to spoil it for others.

The film is based on a French novel that Clouzot read in one night and purchased the next day, acing out Alfred Hitchcock, who was also interested. It was right up Hitchcock's alley, a psychological thriller that bristles with tension.

The setting is a second-rate boarding school. It is owned by Vera Clouzot, a woman with a weak heart. She is married to Paul Meurisse, who is the principal and a first-rate cad. He is emotionally and physically abusive, and married Vera for her money. She won't divorce, though, thinking it's a sin.

Meurisse is also a philanderer, and has a mistress on the staff, Simone Signoret. But instead of hating her, Vera has bonded with her, and the two have hatched a plot to kill Meurisse. They lure him to Signoret's country house, drug him, and drown him in the bathtub, and then transport him back to the school and dump him in a neglected and dirty pool. But then his body goes missing.

The rest of the film is Vera and Signoret slowly going crazy as they wonder what happened to him. Is he still alive? Is he a ghost? One of the students swears he was punished by him. In a group photo, a figure in the window looks hike him. With her delicate condition, Vera is slowly cracking up.

Into the mix comes Charles Vanel as a retired police detective who offers his services to Vera to help find her husband.

Diabolique is uneven, as there are sections that seem to drag, but the central mystery keeps us obsessed with figuring out just what happened and the suspense is palpable. The last five minutes or so, with Vera walking through an empty school full of shadows and creaking doors, leading to the shocking conclusion, is expertly done.

So my advice--if you plan to see this film, don't let anyone give away the ending.