Adrien, the narrator and main character of La Collectionneuse, vacations at a house of a friend and patron in the south of France. He is planning to open an art gallery after years of supporting himself in a murkily defined role in the art scene, based on his connections, his personal charms, and his scheming. He is separated, perhaps permanently, from his girlfriend, a polished model beaming with positivity who doesn't take him altogether seriously. While on vacation, he shares the house with Daniel, an awkward, intense avant-garde artist with a hatred of mediocre society, and a pretty, inarticulate young drifter, Haydee. Adrien wants to center himself in a feeling of solitude in preparation for his gallery opening, but instead becomes increasingly obsessed with Haydee, who is not his type, but whose escapades with other men dent his ego. Neither Adrien nor Daniel find it acceptable to be just another in a long line of mostly mediocre men that the somewhat generic and vague Haydee finds only okay, yet they don't want to be left out either.
The tropical location and good looking leads of the film provide eye candy, but the overall message of the film is sour and bleak. However this is a bleakness and sourness that is enjoyable, revealing a psychological terrain that is realistic rather than filmic. None of the relationships pictured are profound but overall are driven by a need to score points over others or a involuntary desire for acceptance and gratification. Reunion with his girlfriend in London is less a moral triumph of true love, and more a desire for a more satisfactory ego prop.
Most striking is the anti-romance at the heart of the film. Adrien and Haydee are not dissimilar, both of them bohemian outsiders who don't take well to conformity and the 9-to-5 life, both of whom get by on their personal charm and willingness to ingratiate themselves with the more stable. However, far from finding true love together, they never really connect. Haydee's attention drifts from man to man, and Adrien is caught up in posturing to prove that he is "someone". The simple, childlike Haydee with her lack of ambitions and pretenses is not good enough for him in his mind, while to her, he is perverse and feels superior for no reason.
Two of the best moments in the film are the beginning and the end. In the beginning we are presented with Haydee. She is beautiful, young, healthy, walking on a beautiful beach. It is a perfect picture. Only, she is walking back and forth, to nowhere in particular, her face is rather plain, her haircut silly, her expression vague and dissatisfied. She's desirable but there's nothing especially "impressive" about her, hence the dissatisfaction to haunt the protagonist. Then at the end, the protagonist finds himself alone in paradise, freed from bickering. Far from being peaceful, there is a sense it is depressing. One longs to return to the happier days of unhappiness, just as Haydee expressed in her simple and seemingly stupid fashion earlier in the movie, and like the narrator is forced to admit in the end.
This is one of my favorite of the Moral Tales, feeling less talky and ultimately moralizing than most. It's a somewhat "small" film, ultimately about one man's imperfect character and his squabbles with a few others. Nothing much happens and the point seems to take the cheap shot of snarking on the egotist male protagonist. However, still, it's a movie well worth seeing and enjoyable.
The tropical location and good looking leads of the film provide eye candy, but the overall message of the film is sour and bleak. However this is a bleakness and sourness that is enjoyable, revealing a psychological terrain that is realistic rather than filmic. None of the relationships pictured are profound but overall are driven by a need to score points over others or a involuntary desire for acceptance and gratification. Reunion with his girlfriend in London is less a moral triumph of true love, and more a desire for a more satisfactory ego prop.
Most striking is the anti-romance at the heart of the film. Adrien and Haydee are not dissimilar, both of them bohemian outsiders who don't take well to conformity and the 9-to-5 life, both of whom get by on their personal charm and willingness to ingratiate themselves with the more stable. However, far from finding true love together, they never really connect. Haydee's attention drifts from man to man, and Adrien is caught up in posturing to prove that he is "someone". The simple, childlike Haydee with her lack of ambitions and pretenses is not good enough for him in his mind, while to her, he is perverse and feels superior for no reason.
Two of the best moments in the film are the beginning and the end. In the beginning we are presented with Haydee. She is beautiful, young, healthy, walking on a beautiful beach. It is a perfect picture. Only, she is walking back and forth, to nowhere in particular, her face is rather plain, her haircut silly, her expression vague and dissatisfied. She's desirable but there's nothing especially "impressive" about her, hence the dissatisfaction to haunt the protagonist. Then at the end, the protagonist finds himself alone in paradise, freed from bickering. Far from being peaceful, there is a sense it is depressing. One longs to return to the happier days of unhappiness, just as Haydee expressed in her simple and seemingly stupid fashion earlier in the movie, and like the narrator is forced to admit in the end.
This is one of my favorite of the Moral Tales, feeling less talky and ultimately moralizing than most. It's a somewhat "small" film, ultimately about one man's imperfect character and his squabbles with a few others. Nothing much happens and the point seems to take the cheap shot of snarking on the egotist male protagonist. However, still, it's a movie well worth seeing and enjoyable.