The diabolical

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Movie
German title The diabolical
Original title Les Diaboliques
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1955
length 114 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Henri-Georges Clouzot
script René Masson
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Jérôme Géronimi
Frédéric Grendel
production Henri-Georges Clouzot
music Georges van Parys
camera Armand Thirard
cut Madeleine Gug
occupation

Die Teuflischen is a French feature film by Henri-Georges Clouzot from 1955. The novel Die Teuflischen (Celle qui n'était plus, 1952) by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac served as a template . An American remake came out in 1996 under the title Diabolisch .

action

In a French boarding school in the country, the eternally drunk and violent Michel Delasalle lives as director of the boarding school largely at the expense of his wife Christina, who belongs to the boarding school and who has a heart defect . At the same time he has a relationship with the attractive teacher Nicole. Although the two women have every reason to be hostile, they ally themselves against Michel and even plan to murder him. They lure him into Nicole's city apartment, where Christina puts a bottle of whiskey in front of him. When she impulsively tries to prevent him from drinking, he hits her, whereupon she lets him go.

After Michel fell asleep, the women put him in the bathtub filled with water and put a weight on him overnight. In order to make it look as if the director had drowned in the boarding school's swimming pool after one of his nightly drinking trips , they put Michel's body back in a lock basket and toss it into the heavily algae-covered pool. For the next few days, the women nervously wait for the corpse to reappear, but it has disappeared without a trace. A few days later, the suit the director was wearing that day comes from the dry cleaner's cleaned and ironed . A schoolboy says the principal saw him and confiscated his slingshot; however, one does not believe the student, he is called a notorious liar. In addition, in a group photo of the students, the principal appears to be looking out onto the courtyard from one of the upper windows. The mysterious events weaken Christina's already ailing heart and the doctor does not give her much longer to live.

It was more by chance that Christina met the retired Commissioner Alfred Fichet, who soon became very interested in the case and started investigations. At some point the fearful Christina confesses everything to the inspector. You don't believe him, but still has the pool searched. During the night Christina hears strange noises and follows them through the building. In her bathtub, Christina finally finds Michel's body, which slowly rises from the bathtub, which causes her to have a fatal heart attack. It turns out that Michel's death was only faked in order to scare the heart-sick Christina to death and thus gain her inheritance. However, Commissioner Fichet heard the subsequent conversation from Michel and Nicole and arrested them.

The boy who saw the director claims to have now seen the director and to have got his sling back from her, which he is holding in his hand.

Success and impact

Die Teuflischen premiered in Paris on January 29, 1955 and became a great commercial success. The film is considered a classic of the psychological thriller genre and had a style-forming effect. As a result, numerous films drew on its dark, nightmarish atmosphere, including Eyes Without a Face (1960), A Dead Man Plays the Piano (1961), What Really Happened To Baby Jane? (1962), Lullaby for a Corpse (1964) and The Straitjacket (1964). Alfred Hitchcock , who valued Clouzot's film very much and who had filmed a novel by Boileau and Narcejac with Vertigo in 1958 , created Psycho, the best-known and most influential film in this subgenre , in 1960 . In the credits of Die Teuflischen it says: "Don't be devil, don't tell your friends the end of this film".

In 1996, a remake of Die Teuflischen was produced in the United States under the title Diabolisch , which, however, differs from the original film in some crucial points and, for example, has a completely different ending. Critics almost always criticized the fact that the film lagged far behind the artistic qualities of the original.

criticism

“Until the shocking final punch line, the superbly staged and played dark film remains enigmatic, gripping and precise, without ever having to resort to the superficial suspense of common thrillers. A delirious anxiety results from its leisurelyness and attention to detail. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The story is cleverly consistent. There are no digressions; The scenes interlock with the precision of a clockwork. Clouzot had strayed quite a bit from his literary model; the authors Boileau and Narcejac congratulated him in an open letter on his transformation of their novel. The visual design is just as perfect as the script. It convinces with an economy that knows no length, does not allow emptiness, no over-the-top gag, but which allows a short respite for every shock. "

- Reclam's film guide

“You like it when your heart races to the point of bursting? When you knead your (also unknown) neighbor out of desperation or take refuge under his jacket? What if you want to bite into the seat back of the person in front so that everything is over very quickly? You have to look at the devil. "

- the daily newspaper

Awards

literature

Web links

Commons : Film locations of Les Diaboliques (1955)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Die Teuflischen . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2005 (PDF; re-examination with modified youth approval).
  2. ^ Steffen Haubner Die Teuflischen , in: Jürgen Müller (Ed.): Films der 50er , Taschen, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-8228-3245-6 , pp. 178-183
  3. ↑ The devilish. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 19, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ Reclams Filmführer, 2nd edition 1973, ISBN 3-15-010205-7
  5. ↑ Films of the 50s. Edited by Jürgen Müller, 2nd edition, Cologne 2006, p. 182, ISBN 3-8228-3245-6