La Collectionneuse (1967) - film review

A young art dealer, Adrien, decides to take a holiday in the south of France.  He shares a villa with an artist, Daniel, and a promiscuous younger woman, Haydée.  When he realises that Haydée collects men like art enthusiasts collect works of art, Adrien becomes convinced that Haydée intends to seduce him.  Determined to resist her charms, he cruelly pushes other men, including Daniel, into a relationship with her.

Eric Rohmer’s third film in his series of Six Contes Moraux is similar in style to the first two shorter films (La Boulangère de monceau and La Carrière de Susanne).  All three films involve a great deal of improvisation (this film more so) and excessive use of voice over to centre the narrative around the principal protagonist.  La Collectionneuse is also strikingly different, because of its longer runtime and the fact that it is in colour.

The film presents a cynical, even cruel, view of human relationships.  Of all the male leads in Rohmer’s Moral Tales, Adrien is perhaps the least likeable – not only is he too sure of himself but he also exhibits a nasty streak of malice.   This partly explains why this Moral Tale is somewhat less engaging and ultimately less satisfying than the others.

© James Travers 2002

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