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Le Diable et les Dix Commandements

Le Diable et les Dix Commandements

Movie · 1962 · 15 people

Julien Duvivier directed Le Diable et les Dix Commandements (The Devil and the Ten Commandments), a 1962 French-Italian sketch film. A French-language drama of about 143 minutes, it works through the Ten Commandments as a set of short, self-contained stories. The theatrical release carried seven sketches, while the versions shown in Germany and Japan had eight. In the eight-sketch layout two segments each cover two commandments, which brings the total to exactly ten.

Duvivier gathered a large share of French cinema's established names for the project. The cast includes Michel Simon, Fernandel, Alain Delon, Louis de Funès, Lino Ventura, Danielle Darrieux, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Claude Brialy, Micheline Presle, Françoise Arnoul, Georges Wilson and Maurice Teynac, along with Hollywood star Mel Ferrer. The stories set human failings against an ever-present hope of redemption, and the Devil's remarks reach the audience through a snake voiced by Claude Rich.

Dave Alexander, Michel Audiard and Duvivier wrote the screenplay together. Because the second sketch was dropped for cinemas, the theatrical cut plays the segments in the order 1-4-3-5-6-7-8. The missing piece stayed unseen for a long time before being restored for DVD and Blu-ray.

DirectorJulien Duvivier

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Cast

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Jean-Claude Brialy Jean-Claude Brialy Stage actor · died at 74 Georges Wilson Georges Wilson Film actor · died at 88 Michel Simon Louis de Funès Jean Gras Max Elloy Françoise Arnoul Charles Aznavour Danielle Darrieux Alain Delon Fernandel Mel Ferrer Micheline Presle Lino Ventura Maurice Teynac

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Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

This film is like a family album of sixties French cinema: from Michel Simon to Fernandel, from Danielle Darrieux to Alain Delon, from Louis de Funès to Charles Aznavour, a host of famous names under one roof. For an eye raised on the classics, that gathering alone is a feast. Telling the Ten Commandments through short stories gives it the warmth of the old moral tales, and setting human weakness against the hope of redemption makes good ground for reflection without preaching. Hearing the Devil speak through a snake adds the gentle mischief of old fables.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

In an anthology film the measure is not only whether each segment works but whether the whole keeps a rhythm. At about 143 minutes, this film's preset scheme of the Ten Commandments makes the structure solid but predictable; since every sketch has to deliver a commandment, some inevitably feel more like assignments than ideas. The version history is interesting too: with the second sketch dropped, cinemas played the segments in the order 1-4-3-5-6-7-8, so audiences saw an incomplete whole. Watching it with the episode restored on DVD and Blu-ray is, in my view, essential to see the symmetry Duvivier built.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

With the Ten Commandments as its subject, you might take it for a family film. But since the commandments cover lying, theft and adultery, not every story may suit young children. It is long, too: about 143 minutes. The good news is that it is made of short stories, so you don't have to finish it in one evening. For teenagers and adults it is a film that can start a conversation about right and wrong.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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