Il collezionista

I started watching this movie by chance and the first few scenes were so captivating that I had to watch it till the end.. at that time I was not aware that its a movie by 'William Wyler' who's famous for movies like 'Ben-Hur', 'The Best Years of Our Lives', and 'Roman Holiday'.

A two hour drama focused mostly on only two characters (Freddie Clegg and Miranda Grey) with many long scenes with no dialog at all apparently seems a boring idea but screenplay is brilliant, editing is prefect and each moment is deliberate.. the element of suspense is heightened to the point of tension that just kept me hooked into watching more to know what will happen next.. and above all, the dark instability of Freddie's character and his gradually intimate series of arguments, conflicts, confrontations and negotiations with Miranda was more than enough to keep me on edge throughout..

Freddie Clegg, the shy and introvert bank clerk who got a chance to make true what had previously been only his fantasy.. there are so many shades in this character.. driven by obsession & regression.. one moment he seems harmless, eager to please, and dismal in his desire for love and care.. and next moment he is bitter, stubborn and self-centered to the point of becoming blind to anyone else's feelings and thoughts.. one is always uncertain of what to expect from him next.. Terence Stamp is just terrific as Freddie Clegg and portrayed each and every shade of Freddie's personality with utmost brilliance..

Miranda Grey, a young art student.. the object of Freddie's desire.. her real personality is of an extrovert, confident, independent and dynamic girl who want to do so much in life but owning to circumstances imposed on her, she has to become an obedient and submissive person.. Samantha Eggar played this character perfectly.. one can see how initially she's in anger and pain of denying her real personality but near end how she actually become the one..

Stories where characters are portrayed as black & white, evil & innocent, wrong & right seems boring to me.. I enjoy situations when both the right and wrong person are equally confident that they're right.. confident to that extent that you become doubtful that who is right in real.. or if both are right at the same time.. this movie certainly offer such experience.. throughout the movie viewers must try to understand both character's perspectives..

I love how the title of the film reflects the hobby of collecting butterflies and the subject of the film as two sides of the same coin.. smart, beautiful yet creepy.. dialogs are effective and kind of that stays in memory.. one that is on my mind is 'It's no good shouting. You can't be heard. And anyway, there's no one to hear.' and yes, 'They're looking for you, but nobody is looking for me.', and then that entire argument over the Picasso's painting.. so many scenes, dialogs are just stuck into mind and will stay here for long I guess..

I should have commented on this excellent film long ago. I first saw it in the late 1970s on television and was immediately entranced by both Stamp and Eggar whose performances are are simply riveting. It is an almost "Hitchcockian" film, in that tension and suggestion are used to maximum effect keeping the viewer on the edge of their chair. This is a film that I'd love to see re-made or re-discovered, but again like Hitchcock's best, it owes a great deal of its impact to the time in which it was made and would likely suffer at the hands of a lesser director than Wyler. Fowles work is captured (like Miranda) and viewed with microscopic clarity through Freddy's watchful eye. It has also inspired a song called "Chastity" from The Raves CD, "Past Perfect Tense" which relates the whole of the story. SEE THIS FILM.

This intensely creepy film showcases director William Wyler in his intimate, character-study mode, and features a superb performance from Terrence Stamp in the title role, as the "collector" of beauty. Stamp creates a portrait of sexual obsession that is every bit as unsettling in its way as the long legacy of serial killer movies in existence. Samantha Eggar, as one of Stamp's "specimens," is used more as a catalyst for driving the plot and less as a character for whom we have any great deal of interest. Is that a flaw of the material or the intention of Wyler and novelist John Fowles, on whose book this is based? If their intention was to make us sympathize with, and even relate to, the character with the obsession, they succeed brilliantly.

The ending genuinely surprised me, which happens all too infrequently in movies like this. The film feels like a product of independent cinema before independent cinema really existed.

Grade: A

A brilliant movie that was a first in its time and so many movies built up their success on it. People know about hundreds of movies that are so similar to this one and don't know about it!

It really saddens me that good movies like this one with a skillful actor like Terence Stamp and the attractive Samantha Egger are not played enough on channels like other silly movies that they keep repeating so many times over the same day and week.

The movie has so few actors that can be counted on one hand and all the time you can watch without being bored for a second only the two main actors while filled with suspense and waiting anxiously to know what will happen next. The ending is pretty much what nobody would expect.

Based on John Fowles' influential novel of the same title, The Collector is a dark and pioneering film that presents us with a character unlike most other cinematic psychopaths and a situation ripe with gripping tension. Helmed by experienced director William Wyler - man who turned his hand to, and was mostly successful with, a number of genres throughout his illustrious career, The Collector is an exercise in classy, high quality horror and is an obvious front runner to films like The Silence of the Lambs. Incidentally, The Collector probably stands up better today than it did upon its release over forty years ago. The story focuses on Freddie Clegg, a wealthy but lonely man who lives in solitude in an old Tudor style mansion out in the country. His hobby is collecting and mounting butterflies, and one day he decides to apply what he knows about his hobby to the world of romance, and proceeds to deck out his basement so that a human can live there, and then goes and captures himself a 'girlfriend'. The unlucky lady is Miranda Grey, a woman who isn't too happy to oblige the collector's strange purpose for kidnapping her.

The book that this film was based on not only went on to influence other works of fiction, but also apparently became an influence for real life serial killers. The Collector's influence has allegedly inspired at least five actual serial killers; and if that isn't a harrowing fact about this story; I don't know what is! The story itself never delves into the realms of impossibility, and manages to stay realistic throughout, which lends the film an effective edge. The main focus is always on the relationship between the collector and his captive, and director William Wyler is keen to keep this at the forefront of the film. The conversations they have and the actions between the two represents compulsive viewing, and that is definitely where the true greatness of this film shines through; the scene involving the Catcher in the Eye and Picasso is this film at it's best. The style of the movie is very British, and this is complimented by the central performers. Terence Stamp is wonderfully understated, but still impressively insane, while Samantha Eggar makes a mark as the unfortunate victim. Overall, I guess that the reason why this film isn't too well respected today is down to the fact that it was so ahead of it's time. However, if you want a thriller that offers some brilliant suspense and a realistic story - The Collector is a must see!