La collectionneuse
I think it’s remarkable that this movie was practically made at the same time as “Ma nuit chez Maud”. They are so different! Certainly this is because Rohmer does play around with the notion of color, and I felt reminded of “Le Mépris” which is an impressive study of colors whereas Godard is most memorable for me when he shoots in black and white. In “La collectionneuse” it appears that there is always a reason why a character wears a certain color, or perhaps it only seems so to me because I am unable to produce specific examples.
Ultimately, I didn’t like “La collectionneuse” as much the other Rohmers I have seen so far. Senses of Cinema has an amazing essay on the film, and practically says everything one could say about it, including background information on the production of the film and mentioning of almost every detail I also found noticeable. But for my own enjoyment, I think that the colors of the film make it look very dated, and very 60s. Unfortunately Rohmer is no Antonioni, and where the 60s look great in Blow-Up, they look rather silly here. Since the characters are silly themselves, this must have been Rohmer’s purpose, but personally I suppose I prefer films à la “Les Demoiselles de Rochefort” or “L’Eclisse” where I find the characters’ clothing style strikingly pleasant. Maud, for example, is a wonderful woman and it reflects in her style, whereas Haydée looks and behaves like a little kid.
In comparison to the boys however, she is quite honest. The main character accuses her of playing games, but actually she does much less so than he does. She acknowledges that she fails at relationships, and says very clearly what he wants, albeit that might be impossible. Perhaps the film’s best line is the one in which Haydée claims the desire to have friends. Whereas the male characters might represent a cinéma-vérité-type comment on the pre-68 society, Haydée feels much more timeless. A free-spirited girl like her could have lived at any time, except that nowadays she probably won’t struggle with wannabe dandies anymore, but with burned-out investment bankers. I thought the guys were pretty vapid and unlike the incredible sophistication in “Ma nuit chez Maud”, they had absolutely nothing to say. If these actors are playing themselves, then they must have an incredible sense of self-deprecation because these people are terrible! This quality would already elevate them above these insupportable characters, so – chapeau.
I will definitely see the last two of the “Six contes moraux”, and I hope to do so soon. Now that I don’t have Netflix anymore, I wonder how my movie consumption will be in the time to come.