2 out of 5

Director: William Wyler

The Collector is an interesting story with wonderful performances. Unfortunately it’s also sort of boring, and an indication of what happens when a book isn’t fully re-realized for its transition to a movie. We open with a man chasing butterflies through a field. Some peaceful music and the titles tell us his is also… The Collector. He wanders to an isolated house with a “For Sale” sign and inspects the cellar, a voiceover explaining that he has plans for this cellar. Then we’re following our collector in a van as he stalks a college girl, then kidnaps her and brings her back to that cellar. This is all about 5 minutes. The majority of the movie is the very calm cat and mouse between Stamp (the man) and his new collection, Samantha Eggar. She is, of course, terrified, but Stamp explains that he doesn’t intend to torture her, but rather to provide for her in every fashion. Just… she can’t leave. And maybe one day they’ll fall in love? Stamp does an excellent job of really filling the role properly – he’s not overly quiet or pensive or even cold (which our modern day non-violent serial killers would be), he rather appears patient and contemplative, with the irrational leaps in logic he makes really smoothly woven into his dialogue. Eggar’s character is not as smooth, but once the nature of her role is a bit more settled (Stamp’s is consistent, hers is not) she fits right into the puzzle. This would all make for an interesting “thriller” if it was… thrilling… but everything presented so plainly and drably (best director?) that we’re given no reason to watch the screen, and the house, a set which could have been a full character in the film, is dressed up appropriately but never feels concrete; it just feels like background. My fellow viewer informed me of the book’s structure and I can see how the tone worked better in text format, but as presented on screen, “The Collector” has a premise and performances, but not much more.