This Poetic '60s French Rom-Com Explores Human Relationships So Well, It Wound Up on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" List

La collectionneusewas the third of Éric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales," a series of films centered on the ethical quandaries that arise from romantic entanglements. Each entry essentially followed the same structure: a man who is in a committed relationship is briefly tempted by another woman, eventually returning to the stability of his partnership. That is not to say that the films are preachy or moralizing, despite their moniker: in fact, they're small-scale fables dripping with intelligence, humor, and sensuality. In many ways, La collectionneuse set the template not just for the rest of the moral tales but for the remainder of Rohmer's career, which was defined by stories centered on the intricacies of the human heart.