MOVIES : It’s a Remake--But Then Again, It’s Not : Take a 1955 French thriller and set it in Pittsburgh with Sharon Stone. What have you got? Well, you can call it ‘Diabolique.’

The title may be the same, but the American remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic 1955 thriller “Diabolique” will bear only some passing resemblance to the original, says the film’s producer, Marvin Worth (“Malcolm X”).

It’s the kind of statement that usually puts critics immediately on the offensive. But director Jeremiah Chechik (“Benny & Joon”) says he’s not worried: “I honestly don’t care what the critics say. Our script is a thousand times more relevant, interesting and complex than the original movie.”

Then why remake it at all?

“Because it has a good plot and a great story--a wonderful jumping-off point,” Worth says.

Besides, “Diabolique,” in which a tyrannical schoolmaster’s wife and mistress conspire to murder him, already was remade for American television in 1974 as “Reflections of Murder”; the film, starring Tuesday Weld and Sam Waterston and directed by John Badham, was rated “above average” by critic Leonard Maltin. “House of Secrets,” a 1993 TV film that starred Melissa Gilbert and Bruce Boxleitner, also drew inspiration from the original.

(And there’s also a homage to “Diabolique’s” famous bathtub sequence at the climax of “Fatal Attraction.”)

It’s taken Worth 3 1/2 years to develop and cast the new version, which will star Sharon Stone as the mistress, French actress Isabelle Adjani as the wife and Chazz Palminteri as the object of their mutual attraction and, ultimately, hate.

Jack Nicholson had flirted with the male lead but then bowed out to make a film with longtime friend Bob Rafelson, Worth says. Only the bare bones of the plot remain in the new “Diabolique,” set for release in the spring.

The action has been moved from France to a boys’ school in Pittsburgh. And from there it diverges substantively, Chechik contends. The reason, he says, is that the original was showing its age.

Writer Don Roos (“Single White Female”) was brought aboard after other failed attempts, making explicit elements of the story--spousal abuse, eroticism, the relationship between the wife and mistress--that were only suggested in the original (itself based on the novel “The Woman Who Was,” by Pierre Bouileau and Thomas Narcejac, who wrote the book on which Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” is based).

“This one’s definitely more of an actors’ piece,” says James Robinson, owner of Morgan Creek Films, which is financing “Diabolique.” “I like to say it’s ‘Thelma & Louise’ live,” he adds, referring to the more empowered portrayal of the victimized women in the current version, which will cost $30 million to $40 million.

But it’s not a male-bashing piece either, Chechik promises. “It’s more than just good versus evil. Both are present in all the characters.” A major character change involves the detective who stalks the wife and mistress. The original was more like Peter Falk’s Columbo, Chechik says. That role has been filled by Kathy Bates.

And most important, the filmmakers promise, the ending of this version will be even more surprising than the surprise ending of the original. To say more, Worth says, would spoil it.