La Collectionneuse, part of the Criterion Collection, is a sultry summer film by Éric Rohmer. It tells the story of two boasting, artistic friends who spent their holiday in an ancient villa at the Côte d’Azur. When they discover that a young girl by the name of Haydée is joining them, a game of moral and intellectual superiority begins. As the two men target the girl, she remains the eye of the storm. Calm, assured and stoic, Haydee stands her ground.
The film’s notion on laziness
“I could see myself spending an entire month like this”, thinks Adrien to himself as his body is somewhat lifelessly drifting in the warm waters of the mediterranean. The two men are on a mission to succumb to profound nothingness….. the ultimate holiday. They think abut how they can achieve this stage of blissful simplicity and emptiness, in order to take a break from all their thinking and working.
The laziness is omnipresent, even in their speech. Everytime he calls her name, “Haydéeeee….!” it sounds like a sleeping sheep hurling out one last time before falling asleep. We never even see anyone slumping into the sofa or bed, even though that’s where we see them most of the time. Whenever the camera is on them, they are already slouching, lying down, half awake.
“You must fulfil your potential”
There is an interesting conversation between the artist Daniel and a friend. He creates little sculptures that are spiked with razor blades and therefore impossible to hold. His friend states that the object is the idea a thought, something pure yet isolated by razorblades, impossible to touch, otherwise you get cut. Daniel is exactly like his objects. He is reminiscent of the elegance people possessed at the end of the 18th century. Their elegance came from the fact that people started to be extremely conscious of their appearance and this elegance created a void, a distance between them and those who were more primitive. This in itself was a revolutionary act and preempted the coming revolution in France.
The friend states; everyone must fulfil their full potential. Otherwise you will end up like those aristocrats in Versailles. People who were born into wealth with no ambition because they already had everything, including high social status. They are therefore surrounded by those who are fulfilling their true potential. So those who are, will inevitably be aggressive towards those who aren’t. Wether or not we’re talking about 18th century France and the revolution, I think what’s mentioned here is some type of jealousy and the notion of elegance creating a distance. It’s all about belonging and fulfilling ones desires and ambitions. Daniel is an artist, so he is reproducing his own personality with his dangerous artworks.