The ingeniously-plotted psychological crime novels of the writing team of Pierre Boileau (1906-1989) and Thomas Narcejac (1908-1998) had a huge impact on French crime fiction.
She Who Was No More was the basis for one of the masterpieces of French cinema, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques (1955). This was much to the disappointment of Alfred Hitchcock who had been after the film rights. A few years later Hitchcock adapted another Boileau-Narcejac novel, D'entre les morts, as Vertigo.
In his film Clouzot made major changes to the plot.
It was filmed again, much less successfully, as Diabolique (1996) with this American production making further changes to the plot.
The novel begins with traveling salesman Fernand Ravinel planning to murder his wife Mireille, with help from his mistress Lucienne. The money from Mireille’s life insurance will set them up in Antibes. They have chosen an ingenious murder method - they will sedate her and then drown her in the bathtub. The body will then be dumped in a lavoir (a kind of open-air laundry with a large pool). A few days later Fernand, having established an alibi, will discover the body. It will appear to be a clear case of suicide and he and Lucienne will claim the insurance money.
A few days later Fernand makes a disturbing and impossible discovery. He comes up with all sorts of wild theories to explain it. Some of the theories are quite bizarre. Or perhaps he is going mad? He is sure that Lucienne can explain it.
While the plot is very clever this is primarily a psychological crime novel with the focus on Fernand. Right from the start he is puzzled his motivations. He doesn’t really wish Mireille any harm. Perhaps he still loves her. Perhaps he loves Lucienne. It has occurred to him that Lucienne is mostly interested in the insurance money. He is not sure how far Lucienne has manipulated him.
He feels guilty and comes up with unlikely rationalisations. He tells himself that he is not really a criminal.
All of these ideas are going through his mind right at the beginning so I’m not revealing any spoilers here.
This novel takes us on a deep dive into the chaotic and disturbed mind of Fernand. He was probably always unstable but now, under extreme stress and guilt, his fevered imagination has gone into overdrive. He even starts to believe that something uncanny or supernatural is going on. His grip on reality, always tenuous, is slipping badly.
This could at a stretch be thought of as noir fiction. The influence of James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity is fairly obvious. The difference is that She Who Was No More has hints of horror fiction as well.
The English translation is available in paperback from Pushkin Vertigo.
I’ve also reviewed Clouzot's film adaptation Les Diaboliques (1955) and Boileau-Narcejac’s Vertigo (the English-language title of D'entre les morts).
Dee, good review of CELLE QUI N'E'TAIT(SHE WHO WAS NO MORE). I've never read this novel, but I would like to give it a whirl. I have the Bioleau/Narcejac 1954 novel D'ENTRE LES MORTS(FROM AMONG THE DEAD), which is the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO(filmed 1957, released 1958), but I've not got around to reading it, yet. So many books, so little time.
ReplyDeleteThe Bioleau/Narcejac crime novels are worth reading. I think the Clouzot and Hitchcock adaptations are better, but I would still recommend the novels. It's fascinating that both the Clouzot and Hitchcock films make major plot changes which makes it really interesting to read the novels.
DeleteDee, I'll look for my copy of D'ENTRE LES MORTS(FROM AMONG THE DEAD). Sometimes it's quite a chore to find a book that I've put aside to read later, especially if its been years ago.
ReplyDeleteI've been having a difficult time of getting my comments to go through today.
I feel your pain. "I know I own this book and I know it's here somewhere."
DeleteBlogger has been a bit glitchy recently but I think it's working OK now.