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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 38064
Released: June 1, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.74 |
| Used Price: $1.64 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/01/2004 Run time: 107 minutes Rating: R
Description of Diabolique:
Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 French thriller Diabolique is the epitome of noir. As a twisted plot unravels, the scene is set for murder and deceit. The Devils (a.k.a. Les Diaboliques) live at a rundown boys home with Michel Delasalle (Paul Meurisse) as the cruel headmaster treating the students with disdain and indignity. His wife, Christina Delasalle (played by Véra Clouzot), an ex-nun and owner of the school before their marriage, experiences the brunt of his abuse. He humiliates Christina in front of the student body and faculty and then flaunts his insidious affairs in front of her. Christina rebels quietly, although her heart condition leaves her vulnerable and too fragile to resist her husband's brute strength. Ironically, it is Michel's mistress Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret), another teacher at the school, who encourages Christina to plot a sinister revenge against him. As the abuse continues, "Cricri" is forced to make a decision as she realizes her husband will never grant her a divorce and give up the school. Since both divorce and murder are sins against God, Christina's religious beliefs conflict with Nicole's manipulation and ideas of revenge. As she is forced to choose, her actions result in a surprising and suspenseful turn of events that promise to keep you on the edge of your seat! (English subtitles) --Michele Goodson
Diabolique Reviews:
Review of Diabolique with Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani 
2008-10-26 - I've seen the film before, and the copy I received has exactly what I was looking for. It was delivered in a timely manner, too.
DIABOLIQUE
2007-09-26 - An intriguing movie. Chazz Palminteri and Kathy Bates literally "steal the show" in this one. Sharon Stone seems to have a cigarette in her mouth or hand every scene and donminates over Isabelle Adjani's character - who doesn't have a mind of her own and is a wuss. Some of the scenes keep you on the edge of your seat, though. Couldn't find a copy in the stores, but am ALWAYS able to find what I want on AMAZON! Thanks! valilly
The context has been unluckily erased 
2006-06-09 - This is a remake of the black and white adaptation of Boileau-Narcejac's novel. The shift from the French context to the American decor is nothing but a change of settings and it adds nothing. But it is extremely well built as a thriller and this American version adds a clearly stated sexual relationship between the two main women, the plotters. It also emphasizes this feminine presence by making the « inspector » a woman, which is unthinkable in the French context of the 1950s. And this woman can become an accomplice in the final cover-up, the final assassination of the ressuscitated victim, out of feminine understanding. The context of this let's say prep-school for boys is hardly described and does not correspond to the original French school for delinquents. We never get this idea that the kids are imprisoned and that the school is a reservation for anonymous survivors ghetto-ised out of the social war that is raging outside. And that is such « schools » that both the conservative right and the socialist left are asking for in France right now to take care of suburban young rebels who call themselves barbarians or the natives of the republic, be they black, brown, grey or white, which does not in anyway matter.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
not bad for a remake
2005-09-04 - This version of a classic has been updated and pretty well.
Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani look so much like the main players in the original it couldn't have been a mistake casting them in this.
I don't know where the other reviewers are coming from. This is a story of cheating, lust, deciet and murder. Of course Stone is going to play that well. That is the momentum for the plot, without that, there is no story.
Having seen the original a number of times, all I can say is I wish they would have kept the original ending. It was by far better than this.
That is why I only gave it 4 stars.
Word to the wise.... if you like twisted mysteries that are convoluted, you should like this. But do see the original first, it's definitely worth it. This one is a decent remake.
STONE COLD STONE 
2005-07-02 - Sharon Stone may be the distaff side to Mickey Rourke. These two performers know how to play sleaze and Stone once again provides a cold-hearted finish to her role in this mediocre version of the French classic. The movie might have had more oomph if they had cast someone other than Isabelle Adjani as her partner in crime. Undeniably beautiful, Adjani just doesn't have the cajones to hold up her end of the movie with the flashy Stone. Another factor is the miscasting of Chazz Palminteri as the worthless husband/lover. He is so wooden in his performance that his fate is neither cheered or jeered. Although the movie gets a boost from the appearance of Kathy Bates as the sly detective, even she can't bring enough life to justify this remake. So why three stars? It held my interest and kept me guessing for a while, but it's strangely convoluted ending doesn't really fulfill the plot's thrust. One plus is Randy Edelman's scrumptious score; it fits the movie perfectly.
