Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of eighteenth century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.
Genre(s): Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Runtime: 147 minutes
Rating: 7.5/10 (43,961 votes)
Release Date: 7 September 2006
Country: Germany, France, Spain, USA
Languages: English
Company: Constantin Film Produktion
Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
MPAA: Rated R for aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images.
Director(s): Tom Tykwer
Producer(s):
Bernd Eichinger – producer
Julio Fernández – executive producer
Teresa Gefaell – line producer: Castelao
Andreas Grosch – executive producer (as Andy Grosch)
Samuel Hadida – executive producer
Manuel Cuotemoc Malle – executive producer (as Manuel Malle)
Martin Moszkowicz – executive producer
Gigi Oeri – co-producer
Edmon Roch – delegate producer: Spain
Andreas Schmid – executive producer
Silvia Tollmann – line producer
Writer(s):
Andrew Birkin – (screenplay) &
Bernd Eichinger – (screenplay) &
Tom Tykwer – (screenplay)
Patrick Süskind – (novel "Das Parfum")
Cast:
Ben Whishaw – Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
Francesc Albiol – Court Official
Gonzalo Cunill – Guard 1 Dungeon
Roger Salvany – Guard 2 Dungeon
Andrés Herrera – Door Guard (as Andres Herrera)
Simon Chandler – Mayor of Grasse
David Calder – Bishop of Grasse
Richard Felix – Chief Magistrate
Birgit Minichmayr – Grenouille's Mother
Reg Wilson – Customer – Fishmarket
Music: Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer
Tagline: He lived to find beauty. He killed to possess it.
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The movie is set in 18th century France. It opens with the shadowedface of a man with the spotlight specifically on his nose. As the moviecontinued, this was the story of a special man named Jean-BaptisteGrenouille, who had a very acute and well-developed olfactory sense.The movie follows Grenouille from his miserable birth in a Parismarketplace, childhood in an orphanage, teenage years in a tannery,then back to cacophonous Paris and finally to the quiet perfume townGrasse.
In Paris, he was attracted by the scent of a pretty redheaded girlselling plums, but this encounter had an unfortunate end. So thissparked in him an obsession on how to capture and preserve theessential scent of women. It depicts his discovery that he has no scentof his own, his insatiable grisly quest for the perfect scent thatpropels him into a series of murders of young beautiful women; and theincredible irresistible power this scent has on people. You won'tbelieve your eyes in the scenes showing what happened to the crowd whocaught under the spell of this enchanting scent.
The story borders on grotesque, and the whole movie really teeters onthat edge. The realistic nature of the set design, cinematography andediting set this above the formulaic massacre movie. There are only tworecognizable actors, Dustin Hoffman as the Italian perfumer who taughtour protagonist his trade, and Alan Rickman, who played the father ofthirteenth and final girl he was stalking. But they, along the rest ofthe generally unknown cast, especially Ben Whishaw, as the flawed maincharacter, really get into the very fiber of the strange story and theydeliver the goods.
I commend the director Tom Tykwer for his vision. In "Perfume," Tykwerhad the seemingly impossible challenge of interpreting a world ofsmells and odors onto the silver screen. With his effective use of richimagery and color, what is fragrant was clearly distinguished from theputrid. (The only other film of Tykwer I had seen before was theamazing "Run Lola Run." I believe he has an upcoming more mainstreamaction film entitled "The International" starring Clive Owen and NaomiWatts.) Granted this movie is not for everyone. You would need a strongstomach to make it though the film. Yet the journey of this film willdraw you in to join Grenouille in his quest. The ending may be lessthan what you would expect given the build-up. The fate of Grenouilleat the end of the movie was the one big question mark for me. I wouldreally like how that scene was written in the book. I felt somethinggot lost in the translation of the word to images.
What a real pity… What could have been an excellent movie was totallyruined during the last 20 or so minutes… Up until then it was a verywell told, realistic and interesting story.
The camera and set decoration were very good, while costumes and makeupwere excellent, Oscar quality material (trust the Academy not to noticea European production and fail to even nominate the movie in thesecategories which would have been well deserved). The end then turnedmetaphysical (or whatever) and completely destroyed everything that hadbeen accomplished until then. Nevertheless, a compelling enough movieto recommend watching, if nothing for the atmospheres it creates.
While I truly disliked this film, I can't give it a score of 1 simplybecause the music was so lovely and so much of the production was welldone–such as the narration and cinematography (when, at least, itisn't focused on close ups of vomiting and filth). In other words,while I found the story itself utterly repellent, the people who madethis film obviously were talented and crafted an amazing tale out of anincredibly nihilistic and sick premise. And, because there were so manyrevolting aspects to the film, I certainly could not recommend it.
This film has already been reviewed by a bazillion people, so reprisingthe story isn't necessary–for that, read some of the other reviews.Instead, I want to talk about what I hated about this tale. I have abit of a bias and I should point this out before I continue. I don'tlike films about serial killers or murder, so the fact that I dislikedthis film so much isn't a huge surprise. What was a surprise to me isthat one of my co-workers actually thought I'd like this film andsuggested I watch it. If I'd known what it was about, I am sure Iwouldn't have even bothered. Much of this is because a long time ago, Imade my living attempting to do therapy with murderers and rapists. Itwas all probably just a waste of time and since then I just don't wantto hear about this sort of crap–I've seen and heard enough and don'tfind it interesting–just repellent. For me, life is just too short toimmerse myself in evil. Been there, done that.
The bottom line is that PERFUME is a very dehumanizing a movie. Peopleare murdered for our entertainment. While the killings are notsuper-graphic, there is a gentle fairy tale quality about this thatseems to excuse or at least trivialize this horror. Had anyone watchedthis movie who has lost family members to murder, I wonder just how"entertaining" this all would have been?! Tons of nudity (none of whichis sexy–much of which seems sick and sad), scenes of people vomiting(in closeup), extreme violence, abuse of corpses–this movie seems tohave it all. Frankly, had I LIKED this film, I would have worried.Instead, it was a chore to finish and I won't recommend it to anyone.
I have seen that film yesterday.I have fond more good what I expectedit.there are a lot of scene surprising me. End of the film orgy sceneis amazing.I have never seen surprisingly a scene since terminator two. I cant understand some of people who are saying "bad film,boringfilm,etch.." it must give that people like dump and dumpermovies.please stay away from Europe movies my dear friends who likesAmerican movies. Don't misunderstand please. Hoollywood is capital ofmovie world .I like American Movies too .But it isn't respect againstEurope movies enough. That film is a best example of Europe movies. Dntforget that Hoolywood feed from others culture anymore.