Collector

The third tape from the series "Six Tales with Morality." The picture begins with three prologues representing the main characters: Heide (on the beach in a bikini, first a general plan and a passage, then very close-up separately legs, hips, stomach, chest, ears, hands, neck, face) ^{[K 1]} , Daniel (conversation with a friend-writer) and Adriena (persuades a girlfriend to spend the summer together).

Dialogues for the film were created in collaboration with the actors, and the main female role was written by Romer specifically for the debutante Heide Politoff .

The story is conducted in the first person. Adrien, an art dealer intending to open his gallery, a handsome man of about thirty years old, “with an eagle profile” ^[1] and great conceit, having said goodbye to model friend Jenny, who had gone to London to take pictures, goes on vacation to the Cote d'Azur, to secluded villa in the Saint-Tropez area, owned by his friend Rudolph. Together with him there are the intellectual nihilist Daniel, whom Adrien considers to be something like his teacher, and the seductive-looking girl Heide, twenty years old, invited by Rudolph separately from two friends.

Adrien intends to spend time in complete idleness, wallow on the beach and read books brought by Daniel. Heide's entertainment, which brings new guys every night, annoys him and demands to stop it. Friends have nothing to do to discuss Heide’s behavior in lengthy dialogs between themselves and the three of them, expressing different considerations, and calling her both a “whore” and a “collector” of men. According to the girl, she is in search, not collecting a collection.

Gradually, relations in the villa are improving. Adrien offers Daniel to sleep with Heide, but a friend portraying an indifferent sage does not show interest in this proposal. Adrien himself, imagining that the girl has the intention to add him to her collection, for which she is looking for difficult workarounds, tries to seduce “engineering” himself, but suffers from constant failures because of her strange tactics combining harassment and insults. Meanwhile, Daniel without any apparent effort manages to put Heide to bed, which further confuses Adrien.

A wealthy collector Sam arrives at the villa, to whom Adrien sells an old Chinese vase, and at the same time offers to have fun with Heide. At a new meeting in the city, Sam and Hyde look quite satisfied, which infuriates Adrien. He gets involved in a heated debate about the meaning of life with Sam, and pounces with a new portion of reproaches on Hyde, which with a casual gesture makes it clear how ridiculous he looks at the same time.

On the way from the city, acquaintances call out to Heide Villa, offering to go with them. The girl hesitates, and Adrien suddenly decides to give up her attempts, leaves her on the road and returns to the villa alone. At first he was pleased with his choice, but soon, in an atmosphere of idleness, doubts and desires again began to overcome him. Since Heide disappeared completely, Adrien decides to interrupt the vacation and calls Jenny.

• Patrick Boschaux - Adrien
• Heide Politoff - Heide
• Daniel Pomerol - Daniel
• Alain Joufroix - writer
• Mijana Bardot - Jenny
• Annick Maurice - Orella
• Dennis Berry - Charlie
• Seymour Hertzberg - Sam

As in other “fairy tales with morality”, the plot, with external simplicity, allows for various interpretations ^[2] , and critics who immediately and rather highly appreciate the film are most often limited to describing stylistic details without going into a detailed analysis. It is usually indicated that the characters of the picture, burdened by idleness, are looking, each in their own way, for something to fill the void of their life with something ^[2] .

The main character of the film is an idle dandy, posing as a business man, and setting out his credo as follows: “I would rather serve humanity, idling than working. One must have the courage not to work ”( Je sers mieux la cause de l'humanité en paressant qu'en travaillant. Il faut avoir le courage de ne pas travailler ) ^[2] .

The tape was Romer's first relative success in public, attracting over 300,000 viewers. Due to the libertinage of the heroes of the picture in cinemas, there was an age restriction (from 18 years old), which frankly amuses modern critics, since there is only light eroticism in the film ^[2] .

At the 1967 Berlin Film Festival, the film received the Silver Bear in the jury grand prix category.

The weekly Télérama puts the picture in fourth place in its ranking of Romer’s five best films ^[2] .

• Heinemann D. Vision, volition, ré-vision: le point de vue dans La Collectionneuse , Le Genou de Claire et Le Beau Mariage // Rohmer et les Autres, p. 69-83. - Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2007 .-- ISBN 978-2-7535-0409-7 . Openedition.org

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• La Collectionneuse De Eric Rohmer (1966) (French) . Universcine. Date of treatment March 18, 2016.
• Hunzinger R. Eric Rohmer, Claire, et la collectionneuse (Fr.) . La Revue des Ressources (01/11/2010). Date of treatment March 18, 2016.
• Malcolm D. Eric Rohmer: La Collectionneuse . The Guardian (09/09/1999). Date of treatment March 18, 2016.
• La Collectionneuse: Un film de Eric Rohmer (Fr.) . Les Films du Losange . Date of treatment March 18, 2016.
• Galabru S. La Collectionneuse d'Eric Rohmer (Fr.) . La cause litteraire (06/14/2013). Date of treatment March 18, 2016.