Les Diaboliques

Don’t watch the film with commentary if you’ve never seen Les Diaboliques before, as essential plot twists are given away from the start.

The commentary is a rather dry and scholarly although this is perhaps what you would expect given that it is given by Director of Film Studies at the University Of Exeter, Professor Susan Hayward. Nevertheless it gives an interesting scene-by-scene appraisal of Clouzot’s direction and intent, particularly focussing on the attention given to the lighting of his wife, Vera Clouzot, often to the detriment of the stronger co-star, Simone Signoret.

Some of the background information is intriguing and we learn that Les Diaboliques was amongst the first films to employ ‘spoiler warnings’: after the end credits it asks audiences not to reveal the plot to friends and family - something Hitchcock also did.

I noted that on my copy of the DVD there was a repetition of commentary around chapter 5.