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Review #373 of 365
Movie Review of Perfume: The Story of A Murderer (2006) [R] 147 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.75
Where Viewed: Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 20 January 2007
Time: 7:40 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
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Directed by: Tom Tykwer (Paris, je t'aime)
Screenplay by: Andrew Birkin (The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc), Bernd Eichinger (Untergang, Der), and Tom Tykwer (Paris, je t'aime) based on the novel Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Alvaro Roque (debut) • Franck Lefeuvre (debut) • Ben Whishaw (Stoned) • Dustin Hoffman (Stranger Than Fiction) • Rachel Hurd-Wood (An American Haunting) • Alan Rickman (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) • John Hurt (V for Vendetta) • Birgit Minichmayr (Fallen ) • Sian Thomas (Vanity Fair) • Sam Douglas (Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Kubrick and Scorcese believed it was unable to be adapted for film, and German novelist, Patrick Süskind, refused to relinquish film rights until 2001 for his complex tale of the most profound perfumer and serial killer of the 18th century, his creation, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Before going further, let's do something neither the book nor film accomplished for the purpose of this review. Stop reading for a moment, though I know it should be difficult to do so given the power of that introduction, and scurry about the house collecting the following list of items: vanilla and almond extracts, cinnamon, sage, rosemary, a glass, something you know emits the most abhorrent odor in your home—I'll leave you to your imagination on that one—a couple of bottles of your favorite perfumes or colognes, a fresh dryer sheet, a wonderfully scented candle; and, of course, a piece of the darkest chocolate your taste buds can delightfully savor. Then return to your computer, arrange these items properly around, don’t forget matches for the candle, and begin.
"…Ben Whishaw, delivers one of the most riveting performances of the year capturing every essence and nuance of this troubled, powerful, outcast."
Close your eyes, and take a big whiff of the really stinky, disgusting thing, and let it conjure up the worst things you've ever smelled in your life. As horrible as it is to smell, notice the flood of images. Allow it to take you to a middle 1700s, Parisian fish market. The people here bathe once a month whether they need it or not. It's dank, dark, stinky, and disgusting. Maggots are the regional mascot. And then picture a pregnant fish cart worker who barely scrapes by suddenly delivering and subsequently abandoning what she believes to be yet another in a line of still-born babies on top of the fish gut pile. If the scent is fading, take another whiff and imaging the poor new begin atop the pile of the most repulsive rotting guts suddenly being jolted into this world by those unholy scents. His new born cries reveal his existence to a populace incapable of forgiving the mother (Birgit Minichmayr) who is put to death herself for leaving her baby for dead. The babe, subsequently named Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is shipped off to the care of Madame Gaillard (Sian Thomas) who runs a despicable orphanage brimming with kids from Oliver Twist's nightmares who even try to suffocate the little rascal. But, his will to survive is too great, and, moreover, his olfactory prowess is too over powering to allow him to perish. As he grows up, he becomes keenly aware that he can smell things far better than others. Cover the label of one of your collected spices, take a whiff, and then try to identify it. Then imagine being able to do that with hundreds of thousands of scents. Is it a blessing or a curse to be able to smell so well. For Jean-Baptiste the story will show how, in his case, it was both. From orphanage to Tannery, Jean-Baptiste grows up into a life of servitude. Until, one day, he (now played by Ben Whishaw) finally gets to go into real Paris on a delivery with his master Grimal (Sam Douglas). Breaking off on to his own…stop, uncap some spices and bottles and just run your nose from container to container breathing in each essence quickly…to encounter an entire new world of scents he's never known before. The events that follow, however, will set in course a path for his destiny that will become both his downfall and his obsession. He will catch wind of one of the most beautiful and wonderful odors of his lifetime, that of a young woman and her basket of golden plums. In a scene straight from Of Mice and Men, in his efforts to keep her quiet as he basks in her presences, unfortunately, he strangles her. More powerful, however, than any sense of remorse over the loss of her life, to him, is the fleeting nature of her scent. He holds her delicate body working furiously to wipe up and capture her every nuanced fragrance. Given that his olfactory abilities are so keen, they overpower and negate nearly all others giving him a nearly rudimentary ability to communicate orally with people. Moreover, he has no comprehension of a more traditional style of love and relationship. Luck, as it has and continues to do so throughout his life, brings him to the doorstep of a now past his prime former perfume great, Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman). A startling fresh and frank encounter that eventually leads to Baldini purchasing Grenouille from Grimal for 50 Francs. And hence, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille becomes his savior blending brilliant new perfumes for Baldini and learning the tricks of the trade from his new master. Now, stop again, and smell the glass. Smell it long and hard. What does glass smell like. Nothing? Smell it again? Still nothing? Well, to Jean-Baptiste it along with everything else has a distinctive odor. One that we cannot ascertain. His desperation exacerbates as he tries diligently to capture the smells of all things in the apparatus constructed by Baldini for the purpose of extracting smells. For an idea of the skill of Jean-Baptiste, take random samples of your spices, perfumes, and colognes and pour them in the glass and smell the results. Likely, the results aren't so good, but in the case of Jean-Baptiste he would have been able to combine them in a way yielding an intoxicating fragrance. Frustrated by Grenouille's failed experiments Baldini encourages and helps him get journey man travel papers to go to the town of Grasse to learn the process of extracting scents from living things leaving his ill-fated master behind with 100 new perfume formulas. His drive to find the perfect process to preserve scents leads him on a startling journey through the mountains where he learns the one true thing, that he has no scent of his own. After this, he leaves for Grasse, smells a new and wondrous girl Laura Richis (Rachel Hurd-Wood), and gets a job in a small house that extracts essences from living thing. Light the candle and smell the joy as it fills the room. This new-found methodology gives Grenouille a renewed sense of purpose. And with that, he begins to kill and collect the scents of the most perfect and beautiful young women in Grasse. His murderous rampage and the authorities' ineptitude at catching him embolden him to finally seek the ultimate prize. Only Antoine Richis (Alan Rickman), father of Laura, stands in his way. Without giving away the final climatic scenes, do get a flavor and scent for them, by now taking that piece of chocolate between the thumb and pointer finger. Breathe in its fragrance. Savor the smell. Take a bite. Breathe through the piece. This is less than 1% of the joy the final fragrance developed by Grenouille will evoke in those blessed to enjoy its smell.
…Tom Tykwer has accomplished something that was thought impossible. With a deft screenplay, incredible visual effects, a stunning score, and perfect costumes, sets, and locales, a timeless and powerful film focusing on the passion of the human mind and its subsequent obsessions for preserving perfection has been created."
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer turns out to be one of the top films of the year, and would have probably won my vote for Best Picture were it not for two things: first, I can live with the methodical pace though some might claim it too slow, but even I would agree that distilling this down to a solid two hours would have improved things just a bit, and second I just did not totally buy Dustin Hoffman's performance. It seemed, in fact, like he was not the best choice for this role. This was Dustin Hoffman in a wig, not the great Baldini. Mr. Hoffman is a brilliant actor, no doubt, but this role was not for him. On the contrary, the young Englishman, Ben Whishaw, delivers one of the most riveting performances of the year capturing every essence and nuance of this troubled, powerful, outcast. Honestly, he has very little dialogue throughout, and he doesn't need it. He is full capable of revealing his thinking, his passions, and his desired physically. Where he cannot or should not, John Hurt's haunting narration minds the gaps. While the film is subtitled, "The Story of a Murderer", that's not really what the movie is about. To be sure, he becomes a serial killer, but Jean-Baptiste has no capacity to really understand his actions. The drive to capture and preserve the scent of love and passion for all time overwhelms him plunging him quite deeply into madness. A better subtitle might have been "The Scent of Sanity". In any case, Tom Tykwer has accomplished something that was thought impossible. With a deft screenplay, incredible visual effects, a stunning score, and perfect costumes, sets, and locales, a timeless and powerful film focusing on the passion of the human mind and its subsequent obsessions for preserving perfection has been created. If only the wizards of the special effect industry had created a smell-card to go along with the film, this truly would have been a film for all senses.
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Other Projects Featuring Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Cast Members
Ben Whishaw
• Dustin Hoffman • Rachel Hurd-WoodAlan Rickman
• John Hurt • Birgit MinichmayrSian Thomas
• Sam DouglasDirector
Tom Tykwer
Co-screenwriters
Andrew Birkin
• Bernd EichingerNovelist
Patrick Süskind
| Book | CD | CD |
| VHS | DVD |
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer would be the top film of the year were it not for director Tom Tykwer's choice not to distill it down to two hours thereby improving it's pace and agreeing to cast Dustin Hoffman in the lead of Baldini—a past his prime perfumer—a role to which he simply wasn’t suited. On the contrary, Ben Whishaw delivers the most riveting performance of the year capturing every essence and nuance of this troubled, powerful, outcast, protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille—a young boy possessing the most talented olfactory abilities ever but with no skills to communicate on other levels. His obsession with preserving odors eventually becomes his downfall. Tom Tykwer has accomplished something thought impossible in bringing this film to life. If only the wizards of special effects had created a smell-card to go along with the film, this truly would have been a film for all senses.
3 comments:
There is not an ultimate advice because everyone interprets odors in their own way, and the same fragrance can smell totally different considering type of skin, hair color, temperament and even the season of a year. There are important nuances if you do not want to seem vulgar or lacking of taste.
Ah….the sweet, smell of perfume! Today's market is flooded with hundreds and hundreds of different fragrances ranging from floral to woodsy. Most women love the smell of perfume, wearing it even when going to the grocery store. The problem is that perfume allergy for some women, is anything but nice.
Saw Perfume recently, well done in general, good character building... it says a lot about human nature as well.
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