FILM · 1955 · FRANCE
Les Diaboliques
- Directed by
- Henri-Georges Clouzot
- Runtime
- 118 min
- Studio
- Véra Films, Filmsonor
23 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (23)
- #001
Director Henri-Georges Clouzot bought the film rights to the original novel and is said to have beaten Alfred Hitchcock to them by only a few hours.
- #002
The film was adapted from Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac's novel "Celle qui n'était plus" (She Who Was No More). Alfred Hitchcock also tried to buy the rights to the novel; Boileau and Narcejac later wrote "D'Entre les Morts" (From Among the Dead) specifically for Hitchcock, who filmed it as Vertigo (1958).
- #003
Simone Signoret did not actually know how to drive, so Véra Clouzot did all the driving in the film.
- #004
Although he had missed the chance to make the film, Alfred Hitchcock was a great admirer of it. Some even say it influenced the making of Psycho (1960).
- #005
About twelve weeks after production began, Simone Signoret received notice that rehearsals were starting for the stage version of "The Crucible", in which she was also appearing. She had thought there would be no conflict, since shooting was to last only eight weeks and to be completed a full month before The Crucible rehearsals began. Henri-Georges Clouzot did not rearrange the shooting schedule for her, and she had to go from the set straight to the play's rehearsals, sleep for a few hours (perhaps) and start again.
- #006
Simone Signoret had not read the contract in detail before signing it and was unaware that she would be paid for only eight weeks. After sixteen weeks and the wrap, she learned that Henri-Georges Clouzot would pay her only for the eight weeks required by the contract. She objected, but the outcome did not change. According to Signoret, by the end of the shoot she, Véra Clouzot and Henri were no longer speaking to each other. Paul Meurisse and Jean Renoir, who was shooting French Cancan (1955) next door, were the only ones who made the shoot bearable for her.
- #007
The film omits the lesbian relationship between the two women that exists in the novel. It is restored, however, in the 1993 American remake and placed at the center of the surprise ending.
- #008
The only music in the film occurs in the opening title sequence and at the film's close.
- #009
Henri-Georges Clouzot is believed to have actually served Véra Clouzot rotten fish in order to get a genuine reaction from her.
- #010
Véra Clouzot (Christina) was the wife of director Henri-Georges Clouzot. This was one of the three films she appeared in, all of them directed by her husband.
- #011
The school bus is the Fourgonnette (small delivery van) variant of the iconic Citroen 2CV.
- #012
The two women set out from the outskirts of Paris toward Niort, director Henri-Georges Clouzot's birthplace.
- #013
The whisky Nicole brings was Johnnie Walker Red Label.
- #014
The filming of the murder in the bathtub scene took two days. The crew filled the tub with warm water before each take.
- #015
Nicole says the bottle of whisky cost 2,500 francs. That would have been about $7.15 at the time, an amount equivalent to roughly $87 in 2026.
- #016
At the time, it was the highest-grossing French film in the United States.
- #017
This film is part of spine number 35 of the Criterion Collection.
- #018
It was released in the United Kingdom in November 1956 under the title "The Fiends" and cut to about 90 minutes on a double bill with X the Unknown (1956).
- #019
Les Diaboliques was Véra Clouzot's second film.
- #020
It is now well known in the film world that Hitchcock's bitterness at losing the rights to the novel led him to decide to make Vertigo, adapted from the novel D'entre les morts. In the same period, he also decided he could outdo other masters of the time such as William Castle by making his own cheap black-and-white thriller. This soon resulted in Psycho.
- #021
Les Diaboliques was Jean Témerson's last film before his death.
- #022
It ranked 14th on Letterboxd's Top 250 Horror Films.
- #023
French visa number 14131 was issued on 26-1-1955.
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