Customer Reviews

La Collectionneuse

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Eric Rohmer is such a talented movie director; philosophical, simple and so successful in depicting human life even in the murky and intellectualistic XXth century. From his works I have had the chance to see, I find La Collectionneuse the most precious, and must now express my surprise at how incredibly few people who write reviews about this motion picture have noticed its genius.

Perhaps things are so because they have not seen it in the movie theater. Certainly, this Disc is also to join the numerous complaints that the Fox Lorber DVD versions of Rohmer's works have a mediocre technical quality; those who watch La Collectionneuse only on DVD cannot fully behold the marvelous quality of its images, shot in 16mm and standing so impressively on the large movie-screen. It is a dream in silky textures of light and shadow, calmly led towards its climax in a contemplative, delightfully pleasant mood; its pace is even slower than the average Rohmer; who throughout his life has always been acknowledged for great care with details of mis-en-scene, a care which here is astonishing. There is nothing to be added or taken out. The beautiful shots of nature, the atmosphere of 60's and all words and gestures fit together as well as life itself.

The screenplay of La Collectionneuse was written eight-handed by the director and the three main players: Patrick Bauchau, who represents Adrien; Haydee Politoff, after whose name the Collectionneuse herself is named; and the simply unforgettable Daniel Pommereulle, who passed away in the end of 2003 after remaining nearly three decades out of the screen. Pommereulle has a part in this movie that seems never to have been properly called attention to by anyone, at least judging from the material that is available on the internet. I can barely recall any other better, clearer expression of one's character, displayed in a work of fiction at a movie screen. If one takes a look at his life and the sculptures he produced, one will have no doubt that here he does act his own self, Daniel Pommereulle in the film, expressing thus his own real stirrings and emotions. Or, it could be said, with a touch of irony, he does not act at all. He merely surfs the action upon his cues, like a child at play. All others play their parts on a similar mood, the result of which is partly baffling, but prompts a ready empathy on the part of the audience. This is a rare achievement.

Another merit of La Collectionneuse is that it is a thoughtful and subtle flux of conscience, narrated in first person, which does NOT allow a single concession to psychological or psychoanalytic explanation; this makes of it a brave dissenter in its days and increases its depth inestimably: it is a Platonic work of art, and the three prologues at the beginning are already a little portrait of those who are to interact in the course of its scenes. As the last reviewer on this page rightly noted, Sam's sentence, "if I were ... etc ... plus proche de Dieu" is monogramic. Important as it is, this part of the script emerged spontaneously during the making of the scenes: it does not appear in the published screenplay in the Cahiers du Cinéma. Again one finds the same candeur in the scene in which Pommereulle inquires the Italian cook about the next meal, bursting forth: "Pastaciutta!? encora, basta!". This was surely a spontaneous and unexpected scene, too precious not to be added to the final result.

The subtlety of this movie invites the expectator to see it a few times over, and he does not get tired of it. As in the other good works of its director - my favorites are `Conte d'Hiver', `Le Genoud de Claire' and the 2004 prophetic portrait of the `Agente Triple' -, there is a lot to learn from its scenes. First, philosophically, there is a key to Rohmer's messages: the carefully placed watchword `rien', `nothing'. Oh boy, if each time one of his characters said this word, it would really mean what he or she says, there would be no Rohmer stories at all. Secondly, the fact that the intellectual and abstract type of person always ends up thinking he is too good, but then he is overwhelmed, and righteously so, if not by the acts of other more intuitive and passionate characters, then by his own foolish passions. The third comment that can be made draws into the recurrent gender situations: it is usually affirmed that Rohmer's personal mark is the stigma of strong and mysterious women; well, in truth it is not that the female characters are strong, but the male characters are weak and childish. Take for example Loic and Jerome Montcharvin in the two movies mentioned above, along with Adrien. They are perfect examples of twentieth-century eunuchs. And so are others.

On the top of these considerations, and in fact superseding them by large, La Collectionneuse has something more than Rohmer's other works; an inexpressible overflow of the whole on top of the sum of its parts, a fresh simplicity and naiveté that can break one's heart. After all is said and done, it leaves the expectator with the painful longing after the characters portrayed. So real they seem to be.

There's no middle ground when it comes to Eric Rohmer films. You either love them or you hate them. If you hate them, there's no sense reviewing them for others. For those of us who love them, maybe we should rate the films on the Rohmer Scale of 1 to 5. "1" for your least favourites and "5" for your most favourites.

Having said that, I'd say this is a mid-level Rohmer film. But, still Rohmer, still unexplicably wonderful.

ok. first up, this is heavy duty french art film action. approximatley equivalent in endurance requirement to eg. slacker. and equally rewarding for those who make the effort.
the film focuses on a lazy summer. a young art dealer is staying at a friends south-of-france villa, where he proposes "to do absolutely nothing"
he and the friend pontificate about the lovelife of the artless haide as she sleeps her way around the riviera. their intellectualisation serves to put themselves morally above her - in their minds at least. but haide shows them that they are aiming for something they can never have - while she is often unsatisfied she is more often happy, or at least mildly amused.

this is an awesome mood piece - i thouroughly recommend quiet contemplation with your relaxant of choice. top notch

Of course, if you never liked any of Rohmer's film, this one is not for you. But "La Collectionneuse" is an extremely beautiful, subtle and profound movie. Also a funny one, even if you don't laugh... Rohmer could have made only this single film, and yet would be an important and intriguing director.

I purchased this DVD mainly to practice my French, determined to disregard the English subtitles. But I found myself so absorbed in the characters and plot that I ended up reading the English to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'll view it again later for the practice. I've always liked Rohmer. His characters are always articulate, eccentric, but oh so human. The women and men in this parable about the meaning of human relationships and our need for other people are all bright and sexy in that unique French way. The setting in the South of France was intoxicating--brilliant splashes of sun, acres of clear, clean beaches and water. The journey of self-discovery for the man in the film was moving and inspiring, as he began to understand that he needed more in his life than to spend his life as a collector, referring to both his work as a collector of antiques and his own promiscuity. He returns from his extended vacation a new man. Don't expect a lot of action here, but a sexy little tale of self-discovery. Not an adult movie, but certainly a movie for adults.

This is a superb French film with English subtitles that borders on being artistic, certainly causing viewers to think, besides enjoying what they see. There are at least three themes: the value of a bohemian life, free gratification of sex, and relationships.

We are introduced to Haydee at the outset of the film. The camera watches Haydee for more than a few minutes as she walks a beach in the slimmest of bikinis. She seems engrossed in thought, somewhat sad, feeling alone. The camera dwells on each part of her beautiful body, feel, legs, stomach, breasts, arms, neck, and face. She is very attractive and graceful.

We then meet a handsome man, Adrien. We see his flat stomach frequently and his chest and face. He tells his friends that he wants to leave England, go to a friend's chateau in France, and do nothing in seclusion, for his friend is not there.

Haydee visits and is allowed to stay. She is with a boy and has noisy sex with him nightly. Adrien chases the boy away because of the noise. Haydee seems indifferent, and has male friends pick her up every night, a different one each night, and does not return until morning. Adrien sees her as a collector of men; hence the title of the film. He acts as if he is indifferent, but comes to think that Haydee is trying to seduce him.

At the end of the film Haydee agrees to sleep with him. Will he do so? If not, why not? What does Adrien need? Haydee says that she never gets what she wants. What does Haydee really want or need? Will she ever get it?

Although much aclaimed on its first release, seen today La Collectionneuse seems easily the weakest link in Eric Rohmer's series of Six Moral Tales. While it does take the series into darker territory, its insufferably smug male leads and the hideous droning delivery of the female lead (who ties with Marie-France Pisier for the most annoying voice in French cinema) make it a real chore to watch at times. The fact that it's the film that Neil LaBute has spent a career remaking hardly warmed me to it either. Yes, it's about superficial people, but it skims perilously close to becoming as superficial as they are by overindulging their sense of self-importance. For cameo spotters, Performance director Donald Cammell can be briefly glimpsed in the film's St. Tropez scenes.

This movie surpasses most of those movies mentioned as best movie of all times. Here are the reasons:
a) There is no stupid musik.
b) it has a perfect attention to detail.
c) It is honest.
d) The female character is introduced in a most marvelous way, her "tete ronde" looking absent at the hero as he mistankingly wanders to her bedroom.
e) There is no better scene of a spoilt artist banging his slipper against the floor.
d) "You are ashamed of not having money." -No with money my dandyism would not be heroic. -I too, had I been 6.5ft with a profile of an eagle, would fell myself proche de Dieu...

After an hour into this film, the viewer begins to fantasize about punching these smug, pretentious self-absorbed creeps in the face. Yes, the girl too. She's not good enough of an actress to bring off her character. There is no hint of real intelligence there, just naivete. The male characters are some of the most loathsome in Rohmer's body of work. Everyone in the film suffers from a mild case of sociopathic narcissism... but isn't that one of the delights of Rohmer? His dialogue is as witty and sharp as in anything else he's done but at the same time the film lacks the charm of his other work as well as the gravitas of My Night At Maud's for example. The cinematography is rich and evocative of the environment as one would expect from Nestor Almendros. The film's style is light and breezy enough to be eminently watchable even when all the characters are acting like jerks. That people like this exist is depressing yet true. Deep down they all hate themselves, one can be sure of that.

I would have actually preferred the whole film to be about the male lead and his self-absorption. Have him spend a month at the villa and the beach, sticking to his set goal of doing nothing, thinking nothing, while musing philosophically via narration. That would have been quite an effort for Rohmer to pull off. Of course he wanted to go the route of the moral dilemma or comedy and introduce the girl and raise up some conflict. Whatever... this is one of the weaker efforts from this director but still worthwhile for lovers of French cinema.

La Collectionneuse is the third part in Rohmer's "The Moral Tales" The connecting thing in these tales is that the protagonist at the moment he is reaching a woman, meets another woman, but after all forsakes her for the sake of the first one, although is not sure of getting her. A moralist is someone who is interested in what is happening inside a person, moods and feelings. People are intelligent thinkers wrapped around and inside their own egos. Men say that Haydee is a collector, which she's not, neither something which can be collected. She is simply searching as natural relationship to other people as possible. Rohmer penetrates to such areas in human mind which have earlier been considered impossible to reach by cinema.