Number 144 on the top 1000 greatest films of all time is the 1955 French psychological thriller Les Diaboloqie.
Michel Delasalle is the cruel, abusive and all-around mean-hearted headteacher of a second-rate Parisian boarding school. His wife Christina (Vera Clouzat) and his mistress Nicole (Simone Sigouret) plot to kill him. Having done so, his body seemingly disappears and a number of strange events start occurring.
This was reportedly the inspiration behind Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and it is easy to see why, as it has all the hallmarks of a Hitchcock film. It also watched as a classic noir movie.
Of the two women, Nicole was the brains behind the operation and Sigouret did well to portray the ruthless pragmatism behind the character. On the other hand, Nicole is quiet and fragile, with a heart condition. Lastly, Paul Mourise portrayed an appropriate unsympathetic Michel Dellaselle. He was a truly unlikeable character and his death did little to pull at my heartstrings.
Something else that was interesting was the complete lack of background music. Apart from the credits, there was no music at all. While this might lead to boring silences in other films, here it worked well to build up the tension.
But I don't have much to say about this film. I enjoyed it with its moral duplicitous characters, tension building and effective use of silence. The film concludes by asking the audience not to spoil the shock twist ending. I ask you to do the same in the comments below.
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