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Les Diaboliques (1955, Fr.)
(aka Diabolique)
In French director Henri-Georges Clouzot's psychological
horror-thriller - one of the earliest films to feature a shocking
plot twist in its conclusion; it was adapted for the screen from
Pierre Boileau's and Thomas Narceja's 1951 novel Celle Qui N'était
Plus (She Who Was No More) [Note: the scary bathtub scene was
imitated in The Shining (1980), Fatal
Attraction (1987), and What Lies Beneath (2000).]:
- the film's main characters: Michel Delassalle (Paul
Meurisse), a despicable and abusive schoolmaster, Christina (Véra
Clouzot, director Georges Clouzot's real-life wife) - Michel's
mistreated, downtrodden, humiliated, frail and ailing wife/headmistress
and the owner of the school, and Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret),
a brassy schoolteacher, Michel's mistress
- the deadly love triangle in the curving plotline and
the famous shocking twist ending - the two females plotted to drug
the miserly Michel and drown him in a bathtub in Nicole's country
house (closeby to the school, in an isolated village), and then dump
his body in the school's swimming pool; but then Michel's body went
missing from the pool, and there were several possible sightings;
however, Michel was never killed by them - he had faked his own death
- with collaborative help by Nicole - so Christina could be murdered
- in the sequence, when Christina unexpectedly saw Michel's
corpse in the bathtub, it caused her (and the audience) to have a
fright-induced heart attack, when he rose zombie-like out of a bathtub
with half-opened, all-white eyes; she clutched her chest in the vicinity
of her heart, fell back against the wall and slid to the floor where
she collapsed and slumped over dead
- afterwards, he popped the fake eye lenses from his
eyes, exited the tub, and checked Christina's arm for a pulse;
after unlocking the apartment door, Nicole rushed into his arms
for embraces and kisses; their plan was to become rich by selling
the "fire-trap" school that he would inherit from his
deceased wife
- in the denouement, the two conspirators were immediately
arrested by retired private detective Alfred Fichet (Charles Vanel),
who predicted that they would be imprisoned for 15-20 years
- in the film's resolution the next day as the school
was closing, there was another possible twist regarding the fate
of Christina; confused, truth-telling or lying (?) schoolboy Moinet
(Yves-Marie Maurin) declared that Christina had just given him back
his confiscated slingshot (which he used to break a window) that
morning - the film's last line as he walked away: "I did see
her. I know I saw her." (translated)
- the film's unique, one of the first of its kind, end-credits
'anti-spoilers' director's statement that advised viewers to keep
the film's ending a secret: "Don't be devils. Don't ruin the
interest your friends could take in this film. Don't tell them what
you saw. Thank you for them." (another
translation): "Don't be diabolical yourself. Don't spoil the
ending for your friends by telling them what you have just seen.
On their behalf - Thank you!"
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Michel's Zombie-Like Emergence From Bathtub
Removing Fake Eye Lenses
Schoolboy Moinet Claiming to Have Seen Christina After
the Bathtub Incident
Director's Anti-Spoiler Statement
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