Les Diaboliques

Director - Henri-Georges Clouzet
Writer - Henri-Georges Clouzet, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac

Cast Character

Simone Signoret ... Nicole Horner
Vera Clouzet ... Christina Delassalle
Paul Meurisse ... Michel Delassalle
Charles Vanel ... Alfred Fichet, le commissaire
Jean Brochard ... Plantiveau, le concierge
Pierre Larquey ... M. Drain, professeur
Michel Serrault ... M. Raymond, le surreillant

"The painting is always quite moral when it is tragic and it gives the horror of the things it depicts." - Barbey d'Aurevilly

Les Diaboliques begins in a small French town opening up to the Delassalle Boarding School. Michel Delassalle arrives as the owner of the school. A man rings a bell which brings the students out. Mr. Drain comments to Nicole who says she is chaste that he heard screams from her room last night hinting at her affair with Michel. He tells her unfortunately not everyone can be thrown out of the school system. Christina, a teacher, comments to Nicole seeing her remove her glasses revealing her black eye. Nicole says she and Michel had a fight last night. The wife and mistress, Nicole, only get along so well out of their shared hatred of Michel.

He boldly comes in the room offers to kiss Nicole boldly which she rejects only to give Christina. He warns his mistress Nicole that his frail wife, Christina, will ruin them then violently throws them out. Outside the mistress and Christina talk. Christina being a devout Catholic refuses to divorce him. She says it's a deadly sin. The clothes they wear are indicative of their nature. Nicole wears black glasses hiding her motives and a black dress to show her dark soul while Christina wears a white dress - virginal and pure. Nicole tries to tempt Christina with murdering Michel but she refuses asking Nicole if she believes in hell. She says no but Christina says she believes in it.

At dinner at the school Michel is frugal with one of his subordinates. Nicole is always seen behind her black glasses hiding her emotions and ulterior motives. Michel dominates his wife telling her to swallow her food after she says she isn't hungry. Being wealthy Christina complains why does Michel buy such poor food for the students. This highlights her nervousness at the possibility of killing him. Christina is angry that all her money goes to Michel and he doesn't have the decency to buy good food for the students. The wide shot in the dining room shows the emotional distance between the three of them.

After finding a large box both Nicole and Christina disappear. Michel asks the concierge, Plantiveau, where they are. He tells them they have gone. The two travel to Niort. In the car Nicole tells Christina that Michel wanted she and him to control the school because of Christina's heart condition. Madame Herboux greets them at the hotel. In the room they have the operator call Michel. When he hears they are in Niort he is happy and says, "My compliments." Christina tells him she wants a divorce and wants her dowry returned. The chain of power starts with Michel controlling Nicole and Nicole controlling Christina. Nicole is loud and rough while Christina is loud and sensitive. Nicole uses a toothbrush cup to drink the wine devoid of any sense of high society sensibilities. She puts a sedative in the wine bottle for Michel. She visits Madame Herboux to prevent her from seeing Michel outside providing a witness to the crime.

Michel enters and Christina tells him she refuses to leave. Ready to divorce she tells him her lawyer is Berthoux. He tells her it must be consensual. He tries to spin her self doubt into fear saying she will go poor if they divorce losing the school and social standing. She tries to stop him from drinking the laced alcohol but after she is hit lets him drink. Nicole enters into the bathroom meanwhile Michel is knocked out cold by the drink. The landlords upstairs upset over not hearing their radio game show write a compliant at the time of the noise. This could be used as a possible lead for their crime. Nicole drowns Michel in the bathtub as he is unconscious.

They empty the water the next day and put the body in the large case they brought. The landlord Mr. Herboux helps Nicole put the case in the car. At the gas station a drunk soldier tries to get in their car causing the attendant to help the two women. He notices some leak in the trunk that could be damaging later if he were called as a witness. They return to the school later that night. They drag the case out the car and dump his body in the pool. The supervisors talk and reveal that Michel is missing. It is the third time it has happened. The swimming pool holding Michel is so nerve wracking as it is right near the school with the kids playing near it.

Christina wanting to turn herself in asks Plantiveau to empty the pool. She teaches class and runs outside to the empty pool looking in only to faint. She saw that no body was inside. Inside her room Christina prays. Nicole comes in and tells her she is worried because a corpse couldn't have just disappeared. One man comes into their room with Michel's perfectly crisp, dry suit and said a deliveryman gave it to him.

The two women visit the laundromat where the suit came from and get a key to a hotel where Michel was supposedly staying named Eden Hotel. The servant tells Christina that Michel is never in the room during the day only at night. The man says he never saw him neither the doorkeeper. At the school Nicole is worried if Michel was really dead. Christina argues with Nicole because Nicole planned the whole thing. Outside on her way to confession Christina is stopped by Nicole who shows her the newspaper, "A Naked Man in the Seine." She goes to the morgue to identify the body. She says it's not him. A policeman takes a taxi with Christina to St. Cloud. He introduces himself as Alfred Fichet. He offers to find her husband's body but she declines.

Alfred looks at Michel's personal belongings inside. When describing his clothes to Alfred he closes the door revealing the mysterious dry suit which stuns Christina. Outside a kid is shoveling dirt which Nicole asks why. He said the principal told him to. Nicole slaps him. He tells Christina he revealed himself after he broke the window. A photographer comes and takes a school picture of everyone outside. In the picture behind the window Nicole sees a mysterious stranger. Under a magnifying glass the two women see Michel. They are both afraid.

Alfred comes and tells Christina that he found Michel and he is alive. Christina says this is impossible because she killed him. Despite this he tells her tomorrow morning she will be acquitted. He goes to the garage and sees the mentioned trunk she told him about. Outside her window she sees someone through the building walking through each room. She looks down the hallway to see a room with a light emitting. Behind her a door opens by an unknown person. She hears the typewriter being used. The door opens and she looks inside. It is empty. Michel's hat and gloves are near the typewriter. She looks at the paper and "Michelle Delassalle" is typed several times.

The ending is surprising with two twists that will not be revealed in this review.

Abbas Kiarostami: The Taste of Cherry

Director/Writer - Abbas Kiarostami

Cast Character

Homayoun Ershadi ... Mr. Badii
Abdolrahman Bagheri ... Mr. Bagheri
Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari ... Soldier
Safar Ali Moradi ... The soldier
Mir Hossein Noori ... The Seminarian

The Taste of Cherry begins in the car of Mr. Badii who is on the most painful trip of his life. He looks out carefully to pick up hitchhikers to aid him in ending his life. He drives a nice SUV so naturally people approach him offering to work as laborers. He drives and tries to carefully pick the right man. He is affluent and patient choosing meaning and precision over desperation. He calls a laborer to his car and tells him he can solve his money problems. The man says no.

He sees a man who is collecting some items and figures maybe he can coax him to do a job for him. He tells him he will be well paid. The man returns to collecting plastic bags as his only source of income. He picks up a soldier who is on his way to the barracks. He is young and tentative - just what Mr. Badii needs. The soldier is tired but Mr. Badii tells him a soldier is never tired. He is young, only drafted two months ago. He tells Mr. Badii he is from Kurdistan. Mr. Badii concerned asked what he did before. The soldier says he was a farmer. The soldier was in school but gave up. Mr. Badii asks him a lot of questions trying to see if this is the right person for his plans. He asks the soldier to stay in the car to do a high paying job. Mr. Badii tells him he was in the military and met his best friends there. The soldier finally asks him what he wants after their small talk. He tells him not to be concerned with the job but rather look forward to how good the pay is. The soldier keeps asking what the job is and Mr. Badii tells him, "Listen when you ask a laborer to dig foundations does he ask if they're for a hospital, a lunatic asylum or a mosque or a school? He does his job and gets his pay."

The soldier now eerie wants to leave the car but Mr. Badii persuades him to stay. Outside the car he shows a soldier a hole. He tells him he wants to be buried here and at 6 a.m. to call his name. If he responds dig him up from the ground, if he doesn't respond take 200,000 tomans from the car. The soldier refuses and Badii asks him why. He tells the soldier he needs him and doesn't want to beg him. He says he can help the soldier. He tells Mr. Badii he can't throw dirt on someone's head. Cleverly trying to disassociate the act from himself he changes to the third person, "If he was alive he'd stand up to respond." He tells the soldier he isn't killing anyone only covering it up. He tells him to look at the hole and it is God's will.

He doesn't want to dishonor the soldier by giving him a gun to do the act but rather a spade, after all he was a farmer before. He tells him to pretend he's farming and that he's manure to be spread at the foot of the tree. The soldier unflinching won't budge. When Mr. Badii comes back in the car the soldier runs out the car and back to the barracks. Mr. Badii looks affectionately to the crows in the sky hoping his fate is soon. Outside he sees poor laborers who might do the deed but drives on. He needs someone as desperate as he to take the job - someone with weak beliefs. He talks to a security guard and is invited to join him. He tells him it's a nice place which the guard tells him, "Nice it's nothing but earth and dust." Mr. Badii replies, "You don't think earth is nice? Earth gives us all the good things."

Mr. Badii asks if the guard ever gets lonely. He tells Badii he is used to it and offers him some tea. After small talk about the wars about each-other's countries Mr. Badii pitches him his deal, "Tell me today's a holiday, so why are you here alone? You feel sad, so do I. Come for a drive. We can get a change of scene, talk." The guard says he can't leave. Badii says he will see his friend the seminarian. He picks him up and asks him why he studied in a seminary in Afghanistan. The man tells him because the seminary doesn't pay well he has to save up by working as a laborer. He tells him he is lucky he picked him up. "It's your hands that I need. I don't need your tongue or your mind. I'm lucky that those hands belong to a true believer. With the patience, endurance and perseverance that you learn you're the best person to carry out this job." The man asks what is intended of him. Badii tells him the act will go against his beliefs. "You believe God gives life and takes it when he sees fit. But there comes a time when a man can't go on. He's exhausted and can't wait for God to act. So he decides to act himself. There that's what's called suicide."

He tells the seminarian that he needs him to free him from this life. His reason why wouldn't help him to know and he can't talk about it. He wouldn't understand because he wouldn't feel what he, Mr. Badii, feels. The seminarian tells him suicide is wrong. Badii after listening to the seminarian lecture tells him, "I know that suicide is one of the deadly sins, but being unhappy is a great sin too. When you're unhappy you hurt other people. Isn't that a sin too?" He takes the man to the same tree as the soldier. He says tonight he will swallow all his sleeping pills. What he wants the seminarian to do is "wait until dawn then come here like a kind brother and cover me with soil. That's all." The seminarian pleads with Badii that the Koran tells him, "You shall not kill yourself." He asks Mr. Badii, "What's the difference between killing someone and killing yourself?" Both are killing. The man tries to offer Badii some food with his friend and Badii senses his refusal so drives off. At a construction site Badii looks at a rock crusher temptingly as no one will assist in his suicide.

Mr. Badii finally meets a man who has no problems with his plan but is told, "You have to do it properly with all your heart." The man tells Badii if he doesn't explain his problem who can help him? He tells Badii every problem has a solution. He tells him if everyone killed themselves over problems there wouldn't be anyone left on Earth. The man tells Badii after he got married he had so many problems he decided to kill himself. After a long talk on outlook and so forth surprisingly the man agrees to Badii's terms and helps him. Badii makes sure what he has to do precisely. He agrees only because his child needs some cure.

He drives his car around to talk to a guard and asks if he knows the old man with the blue jacket. The guard tells him his name is Mr. Bagheri. He tells him to make sure he is dead before burying him. That night Badii takes a taxi to the burial location. In his grave he waits looking at the moon through the clouds. We see in a flashback Mr. Badii on a film set - something to ease the audience in a scene with infantry marching near the tree he was buried. In the car when he talked to the young soldier he tells him the best time of his life was when he was in the military. Perhaps the highlights of his life are played back before he is released from this earth. Perhaps the tree was a cherry tree and like the final passenger in his car wanted to be buried near something that gave others pleasure.