Éric Rohmer, another former Cahiers du cinéma editor, made a significant mark on the French New Wave with his literary and deeply philosophical films. Although Rohmer's first film, Le signe du lion (1959), attracted very little critical attention, Rohmer's Contes moraux (Six Moral Tales), released over a period of nine years (1963-1972) established Rohmer as one of the prominent New Wave filmmakers. What made Éric Rohmer unique among the other New Wave filmmakers was his classical, literary filmmaking style, which stood out among the more rebellious and revolutionary styles of his contemporaries. With his Contes moraux, Rohmer attempted modernize the ideas of the great French authors of the classical period (most notably Pascal) through these psychologically and sociologically enlightened films (Singerman, 314).
The fourth of Éric Rohmer's moral tales was titled La Collectionneuse, but was released in 1967, before the third installment, Ma nuit chez Maud (1969). Rohmer chose to release La Collectionneuse first because he was set on Jean-Louis Trintignant for the lead in Ma nuit chez Maud, who was unavailable at the time, and thought it better to wait two years than to cast another actor. Like the other films in the series, La Collectionneuse follows the the theme of "a man attracted to a woman at the very moment that he is going to enter into a serious relationship with another woman," outlined by Rohmer in "Lettre à un critirue" (Singerman, 314). As mentioned in the Singerman text, Rohmer's moral tales were much more focused on the character's thoughts and desires than on their actions, and La Collectionneuse is no exception. Throughout the film, the actions (or attempted inactions) of main character Adrien throughout his vacation take a back seat to his philosophical, internal, and at times seemingly omniscient, narration.
As mentioned above, a great deal of Rohmer's work is focused on the ideas and writings of French intellectual Blaise Pascal, a Jansenist. Rohmer's Jansenust beliefs are infused into La Collectionneuse, such as the ideas of predestination, innate human depravity, and the necessity of divine grace. The most obvious Jansenism in the film is predestination. An example is the scene wherein Daniel advises Adrien, who wishes to use his vacation to do "absolutely, positively, nothing," that a man meets with a greater deal of difficulty if he fights against his destiny. The Jansenist theme of human depravity seems to be manifested in the character of Sam, the art collector in his lust for valuable material possessions and his desire for Haydée, the young and chaotic seductress. Haydée's character is an exemplar of the theme of human necessity of divine grace, in that her "search" for something unique leads her to be labeled by Daniel to be a "collector."
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed La Collectionneuse (along with Ma nuit chez Maud), and the timeless philosophical, existentialist dilemmas that are created by the themes of lust and desire. There are several "collectors" in the film: Sam is a collector of material goods; Haydée is a collector of sexual experiences; and Daniel, a self-proclaimed "barbarian," is a collector of pleasures. Ultimately, however, none of the "collectors'" desires are ever genuinely satisfied at any point, despite their distinct success in collecting their subjects.
