Chazz Palminteri, Donal Logue, Isabelle Adjani

A sadistic headmaster's frail wife and his scheming mistress plot to kill him.

Flixster Users

37% liked it

5,939 ratings

Critics

13% liked it

24 critics

R, 1 hr. 55 min.

Directed by: Jeremiah S. Chechik

Release Date: March 22, 1996

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DVD Release Date: January 26, 1999

Stats: 167 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (167)


  • November 20, 2007
    One of those movies that I liked very much when I was a kid. Sharon Stone was awesome in this movie!
  • October 28, 2007
    Good movie with Kathy Bates and Sharon Stone. A wife and mistress plot to kill their lover, but the body disappears. Suspense movie full of twists and turns.
  • August 3, 2007
    A suspenseful thriller which has some nice twists.
  • March 22, 2008
    Skip this and see the original, please.
  • October 5, 2009
    Freakin' wicked but good flick
  • August 18, 2009
    Add a review (optional)...
  • June 29, 2009
    it was alright...i assume most people have seen it b/c nothing else was on.
  • June 16, 2009
    wow i have just seen this movie 4 the 1st time n think that this is a good movie 2 watch,,,this has got a good cast of actors/actressess throughout this movie...i think that the director of this Mystery & Suspense movie had done a good job of directing this movie because you neve...( read more)r know what 2 expect throughout this movie...this is a good movie 2 watch...i think that sharon stone plays a good part throughout this movie..this has got a good director behind thia movie n he done a good job of directing this movie because you never know what 2 expect thorughout
  • June 15, 2009
    saw this but can barely remember it
  • April 14, 2009
    A remake of a tense French original, this is a twist on the eternal triangle scenario as the two women attempt to dispose of their redundant lover.
    Isabel Adjani owns a school for difficult boys: the most difficult of them is her brutish husband. Sharon Stone is his lover, drawn ...( read more)to the conclusion that life would be better without him. The two women plot a murder and execute it in chaotic fashion. The body, however, fails to lie down. Is he dead? Is he alive? Has someone seen them? Are they being blackmailed? And the very private eye of Kathy Bates is now investigating his disappearance.
    As a plot, it has great potential. The cast is, potentially, excellent. But something is lost in the translation. What could and should have been a first-rate thriller is reduced to almost B-movie fare as plot and characterisation are subjected to Hollywood's ritual process of the bland leading the bland.
    The whole production fails to crank up the tension and eroticism. Adjani's character is a former nun, an abused woman suffering from a heart condition: there is considerable potential here for sympathy, for drama, for erotic exploitation ... and yet the character comes across as insipid, most of the time reduced to a simpering, onlooker role.
    Stone can deliver wonderful performances as a hard-bitten, assertive woman of the world, sexually predatory and self-confident ... yet the performance isn't quite convincing here. You feel she is reduced to a plastic stereotype and given no chance to envigorate her role. Even the explosive sexual tension between her and Adjani is reduced to the fizzle of a damp squib.
    Bates, meanwhile, appears as a belligerent little rolly-poly detective with a sense of humour ... but her role doesn't quite get the comic leverage and dramatic presence it deserves.
    All in all, the ingredients were there, but you are left feeling that while it tries hard, 'Diabolique' should have done much better.

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

[Creates] a diabolical double-reverse plot that keeps the audience guessing right up to the thoroughly implausible final scene. full review

View more Diabolique reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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Diabolique Trivia


  • Which is NOT a British horror film from the 1950's?  Answer »
  • The 1990s thriller Diabolique, starring Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani, is actually a remake of a 1950s French film.  Answer »
  • "Sometimes a "Bitch" is the only thing a women has to hang on to!" What movie did this famous saying come from?  Answer »

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