When you think of perfume, you very rarely think about movies. One reason for this is that the two give you such different sensations. Perfume is an olfactory sensation – a smell. Movies give you both audible and visual sensations – images and sounds. It is almost implausible to think that these two sensory experiences could ever cross paths. But don’t tell that to the makers of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, for they seem to think that even a film can omit a scent.
But before we go into whether Perfume comes out smelling like a rose or manure, it is necessary to understand what the film is all about. Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), a boy born with a highly superior olfactory sense who becomes obsessed with preserving all of the world’s smells. There to help him (and profit from his amazingly keen sense of smell) is Italian perfumer Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), who shows Grenouille how to turn scent into oil and make fine perfumes.
And it is up to this point that the film feels almost normal, at its worst just a dark fairy tale. That is, until Grenouille’s obsession takes a strange turn. He becomes so infatuated with making the perfect perfume that he travels to Grasse, a city filled with immaculate scents and beautiful young women, whose smell is also quite attractive to Grenouille. Incapable of just loving women like a normal 18th century Frenchman, Grenouille sets forth on a path of murder, slaying a dozen or so beautiful women so that he can use their scents to possibly make a perfume that would bring a man to his knees.
And from there on out the film is just one twisted, disturbing and yet whimsical twist after another, leading right up to one of the most jaw-dropping endings that I have seen in a while. You won’t drop your jaw because you didn’t see it coming, but you will think to yourself, “I can’t believe they actually did that.” It is a visual that you just have to experience for yourself.
Article comments
1 - Tom Watson
I went to see Perfume, having read nothing about it, and without exposure to any reviews. I was advised by friends though, that the book was very good, so I thought I would be in for an enjoyable couple of hours, if a faithful, or at least a decent attempt at translating this had been achieved.
What I saw was possibly one of the worst films I have witnessed in recent times. The Narrator spoke patronisingly, as if reading a children's story... and the film, set in France was packed with actors speaking in various regional english accents. I couldn't even tell what accent Dustin Hoffman was attempting to put on, it wavered so much.
OK, so maybe one can put these things to one side, because perhaps the storyline of the film overrides such negatives...Not the case for me- the plot in the film was nothing more than one could expect when viewing an ITV drama, and a bad one at that.
When the spell of Jean Baptiste's murders began to occur with more frequeny, later in the film, I laughed as each took place, such was the awful manner in which the film attempted to create a drama of each individual episode.
The climactic scene towards the end film, had me squirming in my seat with embarrassment, and I was silently praying for it to end, since myself and the friend I had gone to see Perfume with were fighting to resist giggling fits brought about through sheer disbelief that such a scene had been created and filmed in the first place.
The question we asked each other at the end was "Did we really just see that??" In fact I had tried not to see as much as it as possible as I had covered my eyes, I was so appalled.
And to anyone reading this, no I am not a prude, and enjoy a sex scene as much as the next person... but this, this was just the most outlandish and downright silly going on in a film that was otherwise doing not very much.
I was so surprised at how bad it was, that I read up on the film afterwards, and was taken aback by the number of good reviews it appears to have attained.
A low score from me, but if you want a laugh at something corny, get yourself along to Perfume: The Story of A Murderer
2 - Drew Ridama
This was a terrible film... horrendously misogynistic at it's heart - that a woman's smell is the smell to beat all smells, talk about objectification... The reviewer misses an important point in his critic, it wasn't just men that found the smell irresistible, but strangely woman as well. There was a lot of guy on girl and girl on guy action, and some girl on girl action, but the most powerful aromatic drug in history was still not enough to cause a guy to touch a guy? Is this the best a European film can do in 2006?
3 - Dennis
After seeing this film, I thought "now that's different", and to me that's what makes this a good film. It's not a cookie cut formula film.
First of all, the main character is a strange person, he's a murderer and his obsessions are all that matters.. you are not supposed to like him. He doesn't interact well with people, and I thought that he was well played.
That there are two twists at the end seems to be lost on those of you obsessing on the sexual scene.. and the last twist is perfect.. and in character with the character of Grenouille. The controversial scene, is what it is, it may seem to be over the top, unless you are trying to hammer home the point that Grenouille was in total control with his concoction.(although this is explained in the narration, which I liked by the way)
I have also read reviews after the fact.. and those that I read were not favourable. To each their own, I liked it for it's originality.
4 - hgjdfghfghg
worst...movie...ever.
See also:
Home of the Brave
5 - patrick
e movie was decently well made in general, the character building and story moves along. Perfume says a lot about human nature at least.