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Best movie ever!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The acting in this movie is really good.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The wife and mistress of a loathed school principal hatch a plan to murder him while having the perfect alibi. They carry out the plan...but then his body disappears. Les Diaboliques seriously missed the point that a very creepy film should have and it's sad cause the storyline was very interesting but the execution came out as cheesy and even stupid at times, the acting wasn't anything good either and the script not that well written as it seemed and it's disappointing because the movie had such an interesting plot but was ruined easily. (0/10)

...or, more exactly you feel it. the motivation of characters. the atmosphere of school. the relation between Christina and Nicole. and, sure, the end. who, if you see for the first time, it is more than impressive. that did it one of challenge - film. not only for the story and acting. but for the chance to discover a high quality thriller. a film who easy coul be defined as legendary. for a simple motif - it seems perfect. not only as Henry Clouzot work but for so many suggestions for imagine a version by Hitchcock. because all the small ordinary details are present. all what you expect becomes more than shown in admirable manner. the fragility of Vera Clouzot. the cold force of Simone Signoret. and, sure, the performance of Paul Meurisset. a beautiful work. admirable for each scene .

Michel Delassalle is the principal of a boarding school, and widely loathed. This loathing extends to his wife, Christina, and his mistress, Nicole Horner, both of whom work at the school. The two of them hatch a plan to murder Mr Delassalle while having the perfect alibi. They carry out the plan...but then his body disappears.Clever, classy thriller from French director HG Clouzot. Intelligent, intriguing plot and well-drawn characters, the sort of story Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud of, and Alfred Hitchcock would love to have directed. Great twist towards the end. Good direction by Clouzot: he sets the scene well and builds the tension in superb fashion, giving a claustrophobic feeling to proceedings. Solid performances all round.A classic thriller.

I'm not generally given to superlatives and was quite taken by the number of reviewers here who make the claim for "Diabolique" as the most suspenseful film of all time. I too actually thought it was very good with a caveat that comes with the finale of the story which I'll get to in a bit. Director Clouzot really did a masterful job in extending the long exposition of this mystery. If one is fully engaged in the story, it's like chomping at the bit to figure out what's going on with the missing corpse from the pool and unexplained sightings of Michel Delassalle after he'd been 'murdered'. One should probably be able to see the twist coming, and maybe you could in another film, but this is one that plays on one's imagination in a way that blinds you to the eventual outcome. I thought it was just magnificently done.The thing that bothered me about the ending are twofold. In the first instance, even if Michel (Paul Meurisse) and his lover Nicole (Simone Signoret) did manage to scare the frail Christina (Vera Clouzot) to death, what would be the basis for retired police commissioner Alfred Fichet (Charles Vanel) to arrest him for? Scaring someone to death to my mind seems more like conjecture than a chargeable crime. Who could prove it? Even though Fichet overheard the conversation between the conspirators, I don't see why a sharp lawyer couldn't put the blame on Christina's easily confirmed medical history and recent weakened condition.The other issue comes courtesy of the young boy Moinet (Yves Marie-Maurin) who was disbelieved by all who heard him state that he saw the school principal after he disappeared. When he says he 'saw' Christina after she collapsed and was presumed dead, there was no confirmation in the story to prove the point. I'll grant that it was a good hook to keep the viewer guessing, just as it was the first time with Michel's 'murder'. But with former cop Fichet on hand, and school personnel around who would have to have removed the body, wouldn't it have to be established that she was actually dead? If one presumes so, then the scene with Moinet is a moot one.One thought I had while watching was that this would have been a good film for Alfred Hitchcock to take under his wing, and was pleasantly educated by a handful of reviewers who stated that he missed getting the script for this film by a whisker. "Diabolique" was certainly worthy of a Hitchcock treatment, as I found it better than some of his venerated films like "Strangers on a Train" and "Shadow of a Doubt". If one disregards some of my earlier critique, I think it holds up as a pretty suspenseful thriller that keeps you guessing right till the very end.