'Diabolique'--No 'Eek!'

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By Newsweek Editors

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"Diabolique" (1954), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, is one of the scariest films ever made. Diabolique (1996), directed by Jeremiah Chechik, isn't. Clouzot's original had a totally implausible plot, but the director's dark, sadistic pessimism created a tension of evil building to a frightening climax that has become legendary. In this remake, Chechik (he did the sweet "Benny and Joon") makes the plot seem even more implausible because he can't evoke the sense of relentless doom that overwhelmed disbelief. He relies on his two supernovas, Sharon Stone, fresh from her Oscar-nominated performance in "Casino," and Isabelle Adjani, France's greatest claim to la gloire since de Gaulle. Adjani is Mia, the wife, and Stone is Nicole, the mistress, of Guy (Chazz Palminteri), a vicious s.o.b. who runs a boys' school that Adjani has inherited. Tired of his abuse, the women decide to kill him, which they do as adroitly as two hippos drowning a beetle. But Guy refuses to stay posthumous.

Enter Shirley, a male-bashing detective (Kathy Bates). This signals the big switch in Don Roos's screenplay: it's a feminist "Diabolique" for the '90s. Make that pseudofeminist, with a clumsy use of breast cancer and timorous hints of lesbianism. Chechik lets a campy tone creep in, especially in Stone's performance, all swinging shoulders and tough wisecracks, like Joan Crawford returned from wire-hanger hell. It's sad to see the luminous Adjani as Mia, a former nun with heart trouble, being a wimp without a wimple. And Chechik blows the famous chilling climax. It's as if he turned the "Psycho" shower scene into a Zest commercial.

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