Rating of
4/4
"You dream too much about water in this house."
Arbogast1960 - wrote on 03/30/08
Hitchcock once told a story of a man who wrote him a letter. It seems the man's wife had seen Psycho and would no longer take a shower. She had also seen Diabolique and would no longer take a bath. HItchcock's advice to the man? Send her to the dry cleaners. Clouzot is as close as one is likely to get to Hitchcock as far as mastery of suspense is concerned. The dread he creates is palpable, and is all the more remarkable for how little he uses to manufacture it: an empty swimming pool, a young boy's story, a freshly cleaned suit, and so forth. Although the story has been told countless times since (including a deplorable Sharon Stone remake), it has seldom been done this effectively. And you'll never look at bathtubs the same way again . . . .
