Les Jones

The Usual Suspects > "The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled"

(Reader Tana sent in this post on the best-known quote from the movie. - LJ.)

On the commentary track of The Usual Suspects DVD, Bryan Singer mentions that the line "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist" is actually from Charles Baudelaire. I checked around on the web and learned that it's from the short story "The Generous Gambler." I found two links that have the story; one is the English translation (a pdf file); the other, the original French. Here are the links:

http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0536.pdf
http://baudelaire.litteratura.com/?rub=oeuvre&srub=pop&id=167

The first link is the English translation; the second link is the original French. I don't know if you read French, or perhaps you might not have time to read the whole story, but the original line in the French version is the last sentence (which is in quotes) of the fifth paragraph. The line starts with "Mes chers frères,..." and the actual Usual Suspects quote is:

"...la plus belles ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas."

So, a MOVIE incites me to actually sit down and read Baudelaire for the first time ... how shallow am I, eh?

Enjoy.
- Tana