Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer
by Tom Tykwer
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Actor: Alan Rickman, Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Francesc Albiol, Gonzalo CunillDirector: Tom Tykwer
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Writer: Tom Tykwer
Producer: Andreas Grosch
Producer: Andreas Schmid
Producer: Bernd Eichinger
Writer: Bernd Eichinger
Writer: Andrew Birkin
Writer: Patrick Süskind
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 147 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Dreamworks Video
DVD Reviews of Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer
DVD Review: A strange and unique tale
Summary: 3 Stars
The first noise Jean-Baptiste Grenouille ever made sent his mother to the gallows, and death followed him for the rest of his days. So begins the truly unique film "Perfume: The Story of Murderer." Though classified as a German film, "Perfume" is spoken entirely in English with some French writing. Based on the German novel of the same name, the story of the life of Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) can be viewed literally or as spiritual symbolism.
From his birth, Grenouille was different. Born with an incredibly powerful sense of smell, he experiences the world (set in Paris in the 1600's) primarily through scent. Orphaned and raised into a life of near silent servitude, naturally he is socially inept, and his only concern is to experience all the smells the world has to offer.
Upon his first visit to the market in Paris, he's immediately taken in by the overwhelming smells of the places, people and products around him, particularly the perfume boutiques.
Smelling is his way of experiencing the world, but his attention is absorbed entirely when a young woman selling fruit passes him by. He follows her, becoming completely enveloped by her smell. When she sees he has followed to her home, she screams. Attempting to muffle her screams, Grenouille accidentally suffocates her, but his remorse for taking a life is immediately dwarfed by his compulsion to take in her smell. He rips her clothing off and passionately begins smelling every crevice of her body, basking in her scent. But it quickly fades, and panic sets in. He mourns the loss of her scent more than the loss of her life.
It is at that moment he becomes determined to learn how to preserve smell. He finagles his way into becoming the apprentice of Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman) an aging perfumer. Grenouille wows him by not only replicating, but improving on the formula of a competitor's hottest selling perfume, rejuvenating Baldini's failing business. As he studies to find a way to perfectly preserve smell, Grenouille shows a total disregard for social niceties, and even life itself. He eventually leaves Paris for the small village of Grasse, when he believes he'll learn everything he needs to know. Before he leaves, Baldini tells him of the 12 parts of every perfume, and the legend of a 13th part that would make the "ultimate perfume."
13 parts to the perfect perfume It is the meetings between Baldini and Grenouille that opens the spiritual symbolism of the film. Baldini says that an object's soul is in its smell, and this simple comment reflects in everything that happens in the film. From here, the viewer can choose to see things as they literally happen, or in a spiritual sense. When his first victim died, was it really her soul that was leaving her body, or did she simply stop producing pheromones? The real effects of pheromones in perfume have been debunked in recent years, but the novel was penned over 22 years ago.
On his journey to Grasse, Grenouille is horrified to learn he has no smell/soul of his own. When he begins to target beautiful women to preserve their smells, one can't help but wonder if he's not trying to steal their souls as well.
I was with this movie until the bizarre ending, which I'm guessing is the reason Stanley Kubrick believed the book could not be adapted to the big screen.
Despite the title, the movie is not really about murder. There are no gruesome death sequences, and in fact, most deaths are not shown on screen. Instead, the focus is on Grenouille's actions to preserve them and use them as parts of the ultimate perfume. The story of a murderer really becomes the story of a soulless man looking for a way to fill the void.
Though the story itself was interesting, I was more impressed by presentation. Grenouille himself goes long periods of time without speaking, but great cinematography coupled with an intense score builds a strong understanding between the audience and the characters. I have to give a lot of credit to Director Tom Tykwer for finding a way to dramatically and accurately represent the rush of emotions Grenouille experiences from a sense that cannot possibly be shared with the audience through the given medium. I mean, how do you communicate smells on film?
This is not to say the film is without its flaws. As mentioned earlier, the ending (the last 30 minutes) lost me despite its accuracy, and some points go well past the line of overdramatic. I would have enjoyed seeing more about how Grenouille avoids being caught despite the efforts of law enforcement and how a completely uneducated man develops a system of smell preservation beyond what any other individual in the industry had done. The overall package still stands, but the weaknesses are apparent.
Final Score: 7
A good movie with a unique story. If you're looking for something out of the ordinary to watch, check this one out.
Description of Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 03/04/2008 Run time: 147 minutes Rating: RBestsellers in DVD
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