Product Details

• Actors: Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, Chazz Palminteri, Kathy Bates, Spalding Gray
• Directors: Jeremiah S. Chechik
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: February 11, 1997
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304116322
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,485 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Diabolique is Jeremiah Chechik's 1996 revamped version of the 1955 French film noir tale of two teachers at a boys school conspiring to kill the headmaster (played in the remake by Chazz Palminteri of Jade and The Usual Suspects). The three assemble an intriguing triangle of revenge and deceit as the headmaster's abused and humiliated wife and mistress team up to get even. Mia Baran is the fragile wife with a delicate heart condition, portrayed by Isabelle Adjani (Queen Margot), and Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct) is the plotting, contemptuous mistress. Together they set out to wreak an unfortunate revenge, but as the story reveals itself, miscalculations abound as hidden agendas and secret lives are unexpectedly exposed. Chechik's new look and timeless setting give film noir audiences something neoteric and seducing to play with. A welcomed change to the film's story line is the fresh addition of Kathy Bates as a daunting private detective. Fans of Stone's will not be disappointed with the latest version of her "I-could-give-a-damn smoldering broad" technique and anyone not yet familiar with Chazz Palminteri will love watching him succeed as the ultimately despicable headmaster. --Michele Goodson

From The New Yorker

A glossy remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot's famous 1954 thriller, in which a man's wife and his mistress join forces to do him in. Here, Isabelle Adjani is the wide-eyed wife, Chazz Palminteri the piggy husband, and Sharon Stone the cool, worldly mistress. The movie is obviously designed to be Stone's show, but her glamorous presence is too vivid for the dull, familiar surroundings. At first, she's an ironic femme fatale; by the end, she seems pure camp, like a bad girl in a John Waters movie. The director, Jeremiah Chechik, and the screenwriter, Don Roos, try desperately to add American spice to Clouzot's chilled French concoction; they throw in nudity, extra violence, Thelma-and-Louise feminism, and dog jokes, and wind up with something awful-vichyssoise sprinkled with jalape–os. Also featuring Kathy Bates, whose good-humored performance mildly enlivens the movie's second half. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thumbs Up For Diabolique, February 8, 1999

By A Customer

Despite criticism that the film is monotonous and boring, I rented the video and was pleasantly surprised. Sharon Stone seems to be getting better every film she does. The chemistry between Stone and Isabelle Adjani is great. Chaz Palminteri is the perfect bad guy and Kathy Bates was a great detective. Listen close, Bates has some of the best lines. I really enjoyed my first viewing. I liked it enough to watch a second and third time!! Big thumbs up to the entire cast for a job well done. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Original Isn't That Much Better, October 3, 2000

By	"manicsf007" (West Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diabolique (DVD)

The only reason I originally went to see this movie was because Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani are two of my favorite actresses. Sharon Stone is at her best when she is playing the bad girl and in the remake of Les Diaboliques she is perfectly cast. I feel that I was somewhat fortunate to see the 1996 version of the movie before the "Don't mess with my classic" crowd poisoned my mind about the remake.

Diablique isn't perfect but the original version had its flaws too(I saw the original after I saw the 1996 remake). For instance, I felt that in both movies that the two schemers went through way too much trouble in trying to manuver poor, fragile-hearted and weak Mia to croak over on a heart attack. Didn't anyone ever hear of the word, "Boo"?

My biggest complaint about Diabolique is that Chechik didn't take more advantage of the sexual tension between Adjani and Stone, which probaly would have made the plot more believable.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Original Isn't That Much Better, October 3, 2000

By	"manicsf007" (West Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diabolique (DVD)

The only reason I originally went to see this movie was because Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani are two of my favorite actresses. Sharon Stone is at her best when she is playing the bad girl and in the remake of Les Diaboliques she is perfectly cast. I feel that I was somewhat fortunate to see the 1996 version of the movie before the "Don't mess with my classic" crowd poisoned my mind about the remake.

Diablique isn't perfect but the original version had its flaws too(I saw the original after I saw the 1996 remake). For instance, I felt that in both movies that the two schemers went through way too much trouble in trying to manuver poor, fragile-hearted and weak Mia to croak over on a heart attack. Didn't anyone ever hear of the word, "Boo"?

My biggest complaint about Diabolique is that Chechik didn't take more advantage of the sexual tension between Adjani and Stone, which probaly would have made the plot more believable.