A sadistic headmaster at a private boy’s school is murdered by his long suffering wife and his brutalised mistress (Simone Signoret). But when the two women return to the school and pretend no knowledge of the headmaster’s disappearance they are unsettled by the schoolboys’ sightings of his “ghost”. Clouzot’s famous horror film is imbued with a dark, malevolent atmosphere and perversity seems to lurk behind every corner. On its release the film was justly celebrated as an innovative contribution to horror filmmaking, and though much of Clouzot’s staging has been copied by subsequent generations of horror filmmakers, few have managed to equal the chilling power of the original. Based on the book “Celle qui N’Etait Plus” by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (who also wrote “Vertigo”).
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
305036
Language
French
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Foreign language films
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Sadism in moving pictures
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Detective and mystery films
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Adultery
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Masochism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism in moving pictures
Feature films → Feature films - France
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Masochism
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Sadism
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)