Le Collectionneur is a thriller made in Québec and based on a book by writer Christine Brouillet. This thriller seems to have been produced to test the market to see if there is room in the small Québec movie industry for the production of big commercial thriller. Right now, people are going to see this movie so it is probably not the last time we see such a movie, and don't be surprised if more adaptations of Brouillet's books featuring detective Maude Graham are released in the next years. But the main question is, is it any good? To that question I must answer that yes, it has its qualities, but also its flaws. First of all, for the cast, Luc Picard shines in an otherwise relatively bad cast. Maude Guérin, who plays the main character is quite bland and the two younger actors of the cast are not very impressive either. Yvan Ponton, who usually is quite good is ridiculous in this movie. It must be said that the quality of the dialogue he has to say doesn't help him but still, he could have done much better. But Luc Picard is truly incredible. He has incredible on-screen presence, his energy is undeniable and he can even almost convince us he can be a nice guy when he is not the crazy serial killer that he is. A great performance for a great actor. Other than him, the only other actor which is good is Alexis Martin, perfect for his small role. The main problem with this thriller is that while it is fairly involving, the story is slowed down by a very bad subplot about Guérin caring for a 16 years old male prostitute and a young boy which fled from his home. These scenes would have been better if the treatment was not as cheesy as it is most of the times. The movie goes from a brutal and dark murder mystery to a social drama which seems to have been made for an educational film about prostitution and leaving home. The murder story, though, is quite well-written. Picard casts the terrifying shadow of his madman over the whole movie and although we do not realy see him until the second part of the movie, we definately feel his presence during the whole movie. Le Collectionneur could have been much better if the overrall cast had been better and if the children subplot had been treated in a darker way, but as it is, it is a good commercial thriller that wasn't made in a big Hollywood studio and gives Luc Picard the chance to shine once again. It is an entertaining movie and the people who worked on it will hopefully learn from their mistakes when they work on the sequel.
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