Diabolique - Henri-Georges Clouzot

Seen for the first time in January 2013.

"Diabolique" is taut and suspenseful and clearly hugely influential. It takes a minute to get rolling, but once it does the tension and mystery build to a great climax. The idea behind the twist popped through my head a few times, but probably only because I had seen enough movies that aped that twist. A really well done film. Well thought and well executed. Grade A.

Le Corbeau - Henri-Georges Clouzot

Seen for the first time in October 2012.

For most of this film, I was convinced the teenage girl was the one behind the letters. So convinced that I thought it was flaw not to make it explicit, elsewise people might think it a weak mystery rather than fairly strong suspense. I was wrong though. In fairness the mystery aspect is still not a strength of this movie in my opinion. Who is Le Corbeau doesn’t really matter. Especially since it seems as though everyone in the town probably wrote at least a letter or two as Le Corbeau.

Its strengths, I suppose, lie in its damning of typical human pettiness and its opposition to bourgeois morality. But it’s not all urbane moralizing either. It’s an engaging movie, that while not thrilling, is engrossing. It is suspenseful. It’s also very dialogue driven. I would call it theatrical. A little bit of Agatha Christie. A little bit of Hitchcock.

I can’t say I understand why the Gestapo would care about this film one way or the other. Don’t care to find out either. I don’t think it’s relevant to my engagement with this film. Just a good suspenseful film filled with small-town folks being provincial. Grade B.