La collectionneuse (1967)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Eric Rohmer

Writers:

Patrick Bauchau (dialogue)
Haydée Politoff (dialogue)

Release Date:

2 March 1967 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Adrien goes to a villa on the Mediterranean. He is in vacation, and wants to do absolutely nothing. He has to share the villa with a friend...

Plot Keywords:

Vacation | Ménage À Trois | Saint Tropez | Riviera

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Patrick Bauchau	...	Adrien
Haydée Politoff	...	Haydee
Daniel Pommereulle	...	Daniel
Alain Jouffroy	...	Writer
Mijanou Bardot	...	Carole (as Mijanou)
Annik Morice	...	Amie de Carole
Dennis Berry	...	Charlie
Seymour Hertzberg
Néstor Almendros
Patrice De Bailliencourt	...	Homme dans l'auto
László Benkö
Anne Dubot

Also Known As:

Six contes moraux IV: La Collectionneuse
The Collector

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Saint-Tropez, Var, France

Company:

Les Films du Losange

Movie Connections:

Referenced in De fem benspænd (2003)

Everyday life elevated into art

In The Collector, the first feature-length film of the Six Moral Tales series, mind-games, strategies, and overt manipulation thwart the possibility of satisfying relationships. The 54-minute film is beautifully photographed and has an elegance, charm, and wit that bears favorable comparison with his more acclaimed works. Adrien (Patrick Bauchau), an art dealer, and Daniel (Daniel Pommereulle), a painter spend the summer in a house on the French Riviera. Also vacationing there is Haydee (Haydee Politoff), an elegant but rather aloof young woman who sleeps with many boys in the area and has earned the title of "collectionneuse", a collector of men. Adrien, smug and self-centered in a charming sort of way, is interested in Haydee but tells himself that her promiscuity is a trick for him to seduce her and he refuses.

The summer turns into a love triangle with Adrien convincing Daniel to pursue Haydee to ease the pressure of his own conflict between his rationalizing intellect and his passions. In the moral scheme of things, Haydee may represent the sexual revolution of the 60s and Adrien that of traditional morality, yet the film takes no sides, presenting the issues without judging the characters and giving us much to think about. The Collector is perhaps the most philosophical of the six but in the end the pursuit without passion leads to a feeling of emptiness and missed opportunities. Like most of Rohmer's films, there are no peak dramatic moments or confrontations, just everyday life elevated into art.