![\"tf-chloroform\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-chloroform.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe week before I watched this, its recommender Steve tried to scare me, warning me that it was pretty rough and that it surprising it got past the censors and whatnot. I knew it was about a man who kidnaps women, and that kind of storyline CAN go very wrong for me if it rubs me the wrong way. But on the other hand, it CAN go very right for me, and Steve will be pleased to know this is one of those times.<\/p>\n
Terence Stamp is Freddie, a butterfly collector who also obsesses over a girl, Miranda (Samantha Eggar)…he wants her to love him, but really, he just wants to add her to his collection, like a rare butterfly that he would capture and pin for preservation. He buys a remote old country house with a large cellar, furnishes the cellar as a small apartment, and kidnaps Miranda and locks her in it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The film is basically just the two of them conversing and playing a sort of terrifying cat and mouse game – she’s desperate to escape of course, but he offers her a thirty-day deal. She plays along and lives in the cellar for thirty days without trying to escape, and then he’ll let her go. She bides her time, though of course tries to take advantage of any opportunity she sees – like flooding the bathroom with a neighbor comes to call, or sneaking out a letter to her mother.<\/p>\n
The fascinating thing is how the film manages to be full of tension and yes, often terrifying, without ever really being lewd or prurient. Freddie is emasculated in some ways, never really tries to rape her, yet can be brutally possessive and cruel when he fears she’s getting the upper hand. Late in the film, he even wants to marry her while promising never to touch her, as if the promise of a chaste marriage would make the whole thing more palatable to her. It’s a really interesting look at how messed up his head is about gender relations and sex.<\/p>\n
![\"tf-pair\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-pair.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I did have to laugh (nervously) at one point when he’s trying to be her intellectual equal and reads one of her favorite books, Catcher in the Rye<\/em>, and hates it. I also really dislike that book, and honestly, for a lot of the same reasons he delineates. Heh. That whole section showed how much of his insecurity wasn’t just gender-related, but also class and education-related. In a way, he reverts to a very stereotypical form of masculinity because he feels that he’s perceived as intellectually inferior. This is actually pretty relevant today.<\/p>\n Carrying the movie by themselves, Stamp and Eggar have to be tremendous, and they are, both of them, absolutely riveting all the way through. It’s a rough movie in concept, and has a few VERY intense scenes punctuating a general feeling of unease, but it’s not cruel or sadistic, which is what usually tips me over to not liking a movie. It actually has sympathy for both people, which went a long way toward making the film more complex, interesting, and memorable.<\/p>\n 1965, UK<\/em> I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how The Collector<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n The Collector<\/b> > An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Final #589 out of 3720 films on my chart (84%)<\/p>\n It is now my #4 William Wyler film, my #1 Terence Stamp film, my #34 Horror film, my #35 Psychological Thriller, my #10 Psychological Horror film, and my #7 film of 1965.<\/p>\n![\"tf-butterfly-reflection\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-butterfly-reflection.jpg\")
<\/p>\nStats and stuff…<\/h3>\n
\ndirected by William Wyler, written by John Kohn and Stanley Mann<\/em>
\nstarring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe Collector<\/b> > Raising Victor Vargas
\nThe Collector < The Three Musketeers<\/b> (1973)
\nThe Collector<\/b> > The Prestige
\nThe Collector < Stand By Me<\/b>
\nThe Collector<\/b> > Grave of the Fireflies
\nThe Collector<\/b> > Alien
\nThe Collector<\/b> > The World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s End
\nThe Collector < Anne of Green Gables<\/b>
\nThe Collector<\/b> > Two-Lane Blacktop
\nThe Collector<\/b> > A Christmas Story
\nThe Collector<\/b> > Ever After<\/p>\n
![\"tf-capturing\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-capturing.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-butterfly-jar\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-butterfly-jar.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-following\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-following.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-tea\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-tea.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-cell\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-cell.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-hope\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-hope.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-bathtub\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-bathtub.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-butterfly-room\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-butterfly-room.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-butterfly-chloroform\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-butterfly-chloroform.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-stone-walls\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-stone-walls.jpg\")
<\/p>\n