Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44031 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-02-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Legend has it that Henri-Georges Clouzot beat out Alfred Hitchcock to secure the rights to this novel, which proved to be a veritable blueprint for an icy masterpiece of murder, mystery and suspense. Véra Clouzot plays the sickly wife of a callous headmaster of a provincial boarding school going to seed, and the commanding Simone Signoret is the headmaster's mistreated mistress. Together they plot and carry out his murder, a brutal drowning that director Clouzot documents in chilly detail, but the corpse disappears and a nosy detective starts sniffing around the grounds as threatening notes taunt the women. Clouzot's thriller is as precise and accomplished a work as anything in Hitchcock's canon, a film of gruelling suspense and startling shocks in an overcast, grey world of decay, but his icy manipulations lack the human dimension and emotional resonance of the master of suspense. Many critics have accused the film of being misanthropic, and Clouzot's attitude toward his characters is bitter at best, contemptuous at worst. The viewer is left on the outside looking in, but the razor precision and terrifying twists deliver a sleek, bleak spectacle worthy of attention. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

Special Features
4:3
DVD 5
French
Region 0
Biographies For Henri Georges And Vera Clouzot And Simone Signoret
Original Trailer
Original Trailer For Wages Of Fear
Chaptering
Booklet
Original Lobby Cards
Posters
Stills
English

Synopsis
In this heralded French terror classic by director-screenwriter Henri-Georges Clouzot, the wife (Vera Clouzot) of a boys-school headmaster (Paul Merisse) tires of his violent treatment of her, along with his philandering, and teams up with his mistress (Simone Signoret) to drown him and make it appear as a suicide. When the body goes missing and sightings of the supposedly dead man are reported all over town, the two mismatched women must uncover what happened to the body before it's discovered what they've done. Upon its release, Clouzot urged all who saw the film not to reveal its surprise ending---one which still stands as one of the original 'shock' endings.

Customer Reviews

Clouzot: a French Hitchcock
Other reviewers have described the twists and turns that make this probably the best French film noir of all time, and on a par with "Psycho". The first time you see it it is really scary and startling: more so in fact than some outright horror movies. The next few times you are still enjoying its sheer class and puzzling over the final scenes.

It is said Hitchcock tried to buy the rights to the novel but was pipped at the post by Clouzot. Certainly the great H. couldn't have done a better job; a Hollywood-type version would have flopped: this is so French a story. Realistic acting, tense, brooding atmosphere in a strange French boarding school full of weird Gallic characters and attention to minute detail all add to the sense of mystery.

As the end-titles say in French: "Don't be devilish and spoil it for your friends by revealing the ending ..."

Suspense plus.
There are countless reviews of this seminal film to be read on the internet, so I shall direct my focus away from the aspects with which most of them deal.

Consider, for example the backdrops. Have you noticed how detailed and intricate they are? Every cobblestone in a street is seen, every crease on a bedcover, every scratch on a door handle - every shot is crammed with detail. I cannot recall seeing a blank wall or a plain open space.

This richness of visual detail is usually missing in Hitchcock films. I also find a richer dialogue than Hitchcock at this period ever provided. Richer too is the cast of eccentrics, drunkards, neighbours, and bit players. The drunkard who attempts to secrete himself in the back of the van containing the body in the basket, once seen, is never forgotten.

Writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac wrote the novel and the film rights were obtained by Clouzot only hours before Hitchcock's bid was received. Never mind if Simone Signoret usually has a cigarette protruding from her mouth in the early scenes, never mind that she and Vera Clouzot are made to totter around on the absurdly high-heeled shoes women wore in the mid 1950s, this is a film that will look good and captivate audiences forever.

A Fantastic Plot and a Scary Film !
I concur with other reviewers regarding the quality of this relatively unknown French film. The tension and scariness of it stand the test of time, especially considering it is 50+ years old.

The setting is a small boarding school for boys, run by a husband and wife team, with several other teachers who are all misfits in one way or another and despise the headmaster husband. The headmaster husband is a despicable tyrant who is having a very indiscreet affair with the other woman teacher at the school.

The film begins by revealing that the frail and beautiful wife is plotting to murder her husband in collusion with the mistress of her husband and make his death appear accidental. However, at the latter stages of carrying out their plot things go horribly wrong. The drama and tension then builds slowly throughout the dark story, which is very well paced with sharp observations on school life, relationships, adultery, detective work and murder.....

Bizarrely, there are many comic scenes in the film and beautifully depicted incidents which help to carry the storyline along and confuse the viewer. The film has no soundtrack music whatsoever, so the truly scary scenes in the film (which also have very little dialogue) are played out to their best effect.

I first saw the film in a cinema in the pitch black and total silence, which is the best way to watch the film for the first time, and it ensured my experience was easily the most terrifying I have ever had (watching a film !).

The black and white picture transfer appeared to me to be flawless, with no blemishes or fuzziness. Similarly, the audio presentation is very good with very little hiss.

There are removable English subtitles, so if you want you can watch with just the original French soundtrack and brush up on your language skills - this is an excellent film to do this with, as the dialogue is not delivered too rapidly and is very well pronounced !

The DVD has biographies, the original trailer, a photo gallery and a colour booklet.

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Along with another Cluzot film 'The Wages of Fear', this film shows that one can be scared witless without the need for gallons of blood, limb removal or a booming soundtrack.

I challenge anyone to watch this film in a quiet, darkened room and not have the 'horror' thrill of a lifetime !