Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Review

"Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" reviews

Movie

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2009-06-02 20:37:57

Rating

3/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer's destructive power of love gets inside your nostrils and stays there, a visceral tribute to smell.

Story

Creating a scent on screen has long been thought to be impossible—but Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is an above-average effort, triggering the raw emotions from smell without the gimmicks of 1950's Smell-O-Vision. Based on the best-selling novel by Patrick Suskind, Perfume focuses on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), a weird dude who was born into filth and poverty, amid the guts and vomit of an open-air French fish market. Although he has no human scent of his own, Grenouille's world-class sense of smell is able to penetrate people's skin—and he's attracted to the female scent. Not in a sexual way, mind you; he wants only to bottle it. When Grenouille meets fallen (but still legendary) perfumer Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), the younger sets out to titrate the most elusive perfume known to man: A woman's pheromones. Problem is, women won't stay long enough so Grenoiulle can capture their scent, and the young man ends up killing them. When Grenoiulle kills a powerful merchant's (Alan Rickman) daughter, his execution is planned for a public square.

Acting

Whishaw is the real star here, but playing Grenouille may have proven a challenge for the young British actor since the character is beloved by fans of the best-selling novel. Whishaw is forced to go mute and inert as Grenoiulle, his intensity focused inward with quiet gazes and mysterious intensity arousing doubt and fear. Grenouille is a man handsome in his youth but ultimately one we despise--or at least someone we wouldn't want to hang out with. And for a change of pace, a powdered, rosy-cheeked Hoffman comes up smelling roses in this period thriller. As Baldini, in costume flair, the two-time Oscar winner does something quite different, no longer just the colorful supporting player he's been playing in light dramas such as Finding Neverland and Stranger Than Fiction. Baldini isn't one of Hoffman's best roles, as Whishaw owns this film, but it's a fun performance, which pays attention to the actor's pronounced proboscis. Rickman, of Harry Potter fame, is an enraged, vengeful father. Natch.

Direction

Perfume is director Tom Tykwer's first major commercial film since his 1998's go-go thriller Run Lola Run--and as a thriller, Perfume is built around solid dialogue-driven scenes, notably between Grenouille and Baldini. Apparently, 57-year-old German writer Patrick Suskind refused for years to give up the rights to his book, but producer Bernd Eichinger—the guy behind The Neverending Story's precocious 1980's futurism—finally won out. Nuggets of Suskind's literary wisdom only enhance the movie's continuity and realism, scattered incrementally to remind us we're watching an intelligently conceived film. Perfume is unwieldy at 147 minutes, however, a bit fatty and unnecessary at the film's cost. Sometimes that happens with novel adaptations, especially one as popular as Perfume. In fact, the film ends with an unusually bizarre orgy, with hundreds of naked people, writhing in hormone-driven ecstasy. What smells so lovely, Mr. Tykwer?

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 3 stars.

Movie

Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-12-22 16:00:18

Provider

Review

A Parisian pauper born with a gifted sense of smell endeavours to learn the perfumery trade to concoct the perfect scent - ultimately leading him down a path of murderous villainy.

In 18th century Paris an unwanted baby is delivered to the orphanage and, when at a working age, sold to the local tannery. His sense of smell is unparalleled. An opportunity to astound a renowned perfumer, Baldini, is grasped and with such natural skills he becomes his apprentice. This is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille - obsessed with capturing the scent of everything - most of all, a human's. Leaving Baldini for the city of Grasse, he senses his 'perfect aroma' - from Laura, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. In Grasse he works to perfect his ultimate scent. As he does a spate of mysterious murders begin and the townsfolk tighten the net around the suspects.

This rich adaptation of Patrick Süskind's best-selling novel has managed to visualise Grenouille's unique talent and the different elements that contribute to his experience. Rising star Ben Whishaw plays the lead, and ably too, equal in stature to his seasoned costars: Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman. Twyker's direction (and music) delivers beautiful imagery and tense plot in equal measure. So it's shame he relies on narration (actually quoting the source novel) to communicate some of Grenouille's internal struggles.

It's still a stunning, sensitive and emotive journey. Non-more so than when Grenouille is obsessed with the scent of a market sales girl in Paris and most surprisingly at his execution.

A very individual film and although John Hurt's narration is quite prominent, it's a superb story crafted into a rich, taut and romantic film for, deservedly, a broad audience.