A luscious, sensual summer laze, La Collectionneuse is the third entry in Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales series. While his fiancée departs to work in London for five weeks, gallery owner Adrien (Patrick Bauchau) opts to spend his summer at his rich friend’s rental villa near St Tropez. Assuming he’d be alone with his old friend Daniel (Daniel Pommereulle) at the estate, Adrien is surprised to learn of a third occupant: a young woman named Haydée (Haydée Politoff). Disdainful of her active sex life, the two men label her a ‘collector of men’, with Adrien vowing to never be won over by her. Cruel manipulations, playful flirtations and other strange games of seduction ensue as a genuine fondness radiates between Haydée and Adrien.

Shot gracefully on a shoestring budget, La Collectionneuse was a surprise hit for Rohmer when it went on to win the Silver Bear at Berlin, play for nine months straight at a single Parisian cinema and become regarded as one of his finest works. An exercise in morality, a skewering of the male ego, a contemplation on meaning in leisure, this film offers a wealth of readings but is guaranteed to leave you yearning to lounge in the sweltering sun and wade in the glittering ocean.