If René Clément's short collaboration with Jacques Tati in 1936 has its later development in the surprising (and political) slapstick of Che gioia vivere (1962), his technical assistance to Jean Cocteau on Beauty and the Beast pays off more rapidly with Le château de verre (The Glass Castle, 1950), starring Cocteau's beautiful beast, Jean Marais, and ice queen monstré sacré Michelle Morgan. This one came highly recommended by Shadowplayer David Wingrove, who saw in its opening sequence a foreshadowing of Last Year at Marienbad's glacial surrealism—frozen figures, somnambulent dancers, palatial surroundings. In fact, the Clément film comes with le jazz hot, and the frozen figures aren't frozen, but there is certainly an air of decadent mystery, with Jean Servais as the chess-playing husband a passable progenitor of the Resnais movie's sepulchral M.But there's more! We begin with a disembodied voice (another Marienbad trope) and open in a fabulous grotto,...
- 3/10/2015
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
“Don’t be diabolical. Don’t spoil the film for your friends by telling them what happens. Thanks on their behalf.”
Those are the words of Henri-Georges Clouzot at the end of the film, Les Diaboliques. For good reason too, the film is a murder mystery. Not because of who has killed who; we’re told that information right away in the film. The true mystery is what occurs throughout the second half, which makes Les Diaboliques one of the classics, not only in the horror genre but in film in general. It’s no surprise that Clouzot was called the ‘French Hitchcock’, but I think of the man as more of his own filmmaker, not taking from another.
We are introduced to Christina Delasalle (Véra Clouzot), wife of Michel (Paul Meurisse) who is having an affair with Nicole (Simone Signoret). Sounds like a typical film, but what makes it...
Those are the words of Henri-Georges Clouzot at the end of the film, Les Diaboliques. For good reason too, the film is a murder mystery. Not because of who has killed who; we’re told that information right away in the film. The true mystery is what occurs throughout the second half, which makes Les Diaboliques one of the classics, not only in the horror genre but in film in general. It’s no surprise that Clouzot was called the ‘French Hitchcock’, but I think of the man as more of his own filmmaker, not taking from another.
We are introduced to Christina Delasalle (Véra Clouzot), wife of Michel (Paul Meurisse) who is having an affair with Nicole (Simone Signoret). Sounds like a typical film, but what makes it...
- 5/28/2011
- by James McCormick
- CriterionCast
I became aware of Les Diaboliques as part of my Uni based Hitchcock obsession, and the discovery that rights for the novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac were almost bought by Hitch ensured that I had to track down this film.
That the film took me out of my self imposed exile on Planet Hitchcock is testament to the power at play here, the film seduced me from the outset and twisted my emotions and expectations through the story of murder, paranoia and terror. Revisiting the film on this beautiful Blu-ray, released today, compounds my feelings on the film. It still has that power.
Henri-Georges Clouzot cast his wife Vera opposite the immaculate presence of Simone Signoret as the wife and mistress of the domineering and abusive headmaster Delassalle, played by Paul Meurisse. They hatch a plot to murder the man, to free themselves. I can’t go into...
That the film took me out of my self imposed exile on Planet Hitchcock is testament to the power at play here, the film seduced me from the outset and twisted my emotions and expectations through the story of murder, paranoia and terror. Revisiting the film on this beautiful Blu-ray, released today, compounds my feelings on the film. It still has that power.
Henri-Georges Clouzot cast his wife Vera opposite the immaculate presence of Simone Signoret as the wife and mistress of the domineering and abusive headmaster Delassalle, played by Paul Meurisse. They hatch a plot to murder the man, to free themselves. I can’t go into...
- 4/18/2011
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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