Les Diaboliques

A violent and miserly man’s (Paul Meurisse) wife (Véra Clouzot) and mistress (Simone Signoret) plot to kill him and make it look like a suicide.

It’s been so long since I saw Les Diaboliques (or in America, inexplicably, ‘Diabolique’), and frankly I’d forgotten how scary and tense the closing half an hour is. Clouzot also directed The Wages of Fear which is one of my favourite thrillers, and it’s easy to see in these two films the profound impact he had on the genre. Would Psycho even exist without this?

There’s a distinctly sapphic undertone in the relationship between the two leading ladies, and it’s no suprise to see that in the original book it sounds like it was written as more overtly romantic.

There’s also a hard cut from a guy wearing a beret, to a woman just ripping bits off a baguette and eating it. Along with plot critical use of a 2CV this might be one of the Frenchest films to come out of France.

I love the way Clouzot drops little breadcrumbs of weird detail, building the tension, backing off a little, then letting it all flood back in the closing scenes. Masterful work.