Diabolique

Starring: Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, Chazz Palminteri, Kathy Bates, Spalding Gray, Shirley Knight, Donal Logue, Allen Garfield, J.J. Abrams
Directed by: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
1996

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: To seek revenge for his abuse, the wife (Isabelle Adjani) and mistress (Sharon Stone) of a school dean (Chazz Palminteri) decide to murder him.

Review:

Tim: I'm in awe a bit of how much I disliked Diabolique. Director Jeremiah S. Chechik has always been a bit all over the place. He's made worse movies than this, but he's made significantly better movies, too. This is a remake of a 1955 French film, so there was an effective blueprint in place. There's absolutely no reason for the movie to be as bad as it was. It's a near-total failure.

I started disliking the movie from the beginning sequence. It jumps right into the action, but it feels so confusing- we don't know any of the characters, we have no idea what's going on. Chechik keeps it all shrouded in mystery, so the opening scene immediately confuses us. And, it's not in a good way, the "it'll all make sense soon" compelling way. I was initially put off by the film- the staging of the opening sequence, the bad acting from the cast, the tone and approach. It felt cheap. The movie doesn't get much better. The story presented feels overwhelmingly lackluster. I never believed the idea that the three main characters all work at a school for boys. They never sell this. Sharon Stone never seemed believable as a teacher there, Chazz Palminteri never felt authentic as the schoolmaster. I don't know what the hell Isabelle Adjani was doing, but I never believed her performance, either. You might buy the relationship between these three characters, but the setting felt beyond ridiculous. It was incongruent with the actors they chose and the characters they were supposed to play.

We might as well talk about the cast. Sharon Stone headlines the cast and she's fine. She has played these kinds of roles before and her experience helps. The script didn't do her any favors- her dialogue is often atrocious and it seems silly coming out of her mouth. She tries, she brings some energy to the role. There's a number of moments throughout the film where her performance almost works. Chazz Palminetri was similar- I never bought his job, but Palminteri has played these menacing roles before and he's good at that. I enjoyed when he embraced the darker aspects of this character, but again, the dialogue, the box he needs to fit into, it's ridiculous. He's a good actor stuck with a bad role and isn't able to give his best performance. And then, there's Isabelle Adjani. I have no idea what the casting department was thinking about. Adjani seems completely lost in this role. She's so far behind Stone and Palminteri, every scene with them exposes how uncomfortable she seems in the role. She might have talent and be better in French movies, but she's absolutely awful here. I just despised her performance, and it made me frustrated that Chechik put her in such a bad position (along with the rest of the cast).

Now, it's not all bad- Kathy Bates arrives eventually and saves the day (although she can't save the movie). Bates shows up and immediately, the movie gets better. Bates is a talented actress and she completely understood the assignment. She's believable in the role, interesting, giving a performance that makes you lean in. She was significantly more interesting than any of the main characters. I didn't hate this movie as much as I should have, and a big reason is the strong performance by Bates. Side note- it was really fun to see Donal Logue and J.J. Abrams (why?) in very small supporting roles as photographers. They don't exactly give great performance (stick to directing, Abrams), but it brought some light into this otherwise dismal film.

There's just so much wrong with this movie. The characters feel inauthentic. The dialogue is like listening to nails on a chalkboard. None of the action is especially interesting and the entire plot feels flimsy. At times it's utterly predictable. The movie does throw a "big" twist at one point, which isn't all that surprising, nor is it especially interesting. The film is only 1 hour and 47 minutes long, but even that feels too long. Chechik simply directs a film that's boring, absurd, and feels like it's going through the motions. There's nothing inspired in this entire film (except maybe Kathy Bates). This is an utterly forgettable mid-90s film that I could never recommend. Diabolique is a total miss and just all around a bad movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Les Diaboliques, Basic Instinct, Sliver