I never saw a TV commercial, I never watched the movie trailer and I never so much as read a synopsis for Perfume – The Story of a Murderer. If I didn’t live under this rock I probably would have known the movie is based on a very popular bestselling novel by Patrick Süskind, then again I might also have TV. The only thing I knew about the film was that it was a very big hit overseas and Tom Tykwer directed it. Suffice to say, I went into the movie pretty much blind so excuse me if I ramble because I was taken very much by surprise at how good this movie is. I had no idea where the film was taking me and each plot turn brought a smile to my face just when I thought the film was going in too dark a direction, and believe me, this film gets pretty dark, pretty fast.
I’m going to get into a little bit of the plot but not too much because a lot of the enjoyment I took from the movie was watching it unfold. If you want to know more, just watch the trailer, which I downloaded after seeing the movie but be warned because it gives too much away in my book. Here we go …
This is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenoulle, who as an infant was born on the slop-ridden floors of an 18th Century fish market. Abandoned by his mother (who gives birth to him as if she were passing some serious gas), he is thrown into an orphanage a few days later where the other smelly, rotting children try to suffocate the baby with a pillow. Naturally, they fail. The funny thing is… it’s all pretty funny. Dark, to be sure, but Tykwer’s direction and John Hurt’s dead-on narration take a fable-like approach to it all and the result will shift the gears in your face from horrified expressions to incredulous open-mouthed smiles as the film delivers the sort of shocks where you aren’t sure whether to laugh or be outraged (though there are certainly moments which are just straight horrifying).
So I continue …
Jean-Baptiste Grenoulle grows up in the orphanage and it becomes clear to all the other children there is something very extraordinary about him … he has, without a doubt, the best nose in the world; that is, his sense of smell is unmatched by anyone. After spending his adolescence in a tannery (it is during this period he accidently kills a girl), he ends up working for a perfume maker (Dustin Hoffman, in a nice little comical role) who’s glory days are well behind him. Grenoulle makes a deal with the perfume maker: he will help him with hundreds of formulas to quality perfumes if only the man can teach him how to extract the smell from any of the world’s treasures, particularly the smell a person emits. You see, Grenoulle craves the smell of a beautiful woman more than anything and he wants to keep that smell forever in a bottle. It is as close to heaven as he will ever get and he doesn’t want to let it go. The rest of the film is about how Grenoulle goes about doing just that and this is when the film’s body count begins to dramatically increase.
Yes, Perfume – The Story of a Murderer is just that but it is one of the most comical, ridiculous and entertaining films about a serial killer I have ever seen. You never really root for Grenoulle and you will fear for the life of more than one beautiful girl but the entire premise is so preposterous you can’t help admire the balls this film has.
The cast is excellent. Ben Wishaw is very good as Grenoulle. He doesn’t push for your sympathies by playing it overly pathetic. That would have been a mistake … he’s playing a monster but he plays it simply as a man who has no choice but to succumb to his nature. The rest of the cast is comprised by very strong supporting performances, particularly John Hurt (our narrator), the aforementioned Hoffman and the always-great Alan Rickman as a father out to save his daughter (the beautiful, young Rachel Hurd-Wood who has caught Grenoulle’s eye and, uh, nose).
This is one of the best directorial efforts in the past year. Tom Tykwer is a director I’m a big fan of for not only Run Lola Run but also Heaven, a great little movie starring Giovanni Ribisi and Cate Blanchett. His range as a director is pretty amazing and with Perfume, he is officially on “must-see” status from here on out. And mucho credit must be paid to Bernd Eichinger and Andrew Birkin for making what must have been very tough material (I may be one of the few people who didn’t read the book), work on the big screen.
I did not make a real Top Ten list this year and it is because of movies like Perfume (which definitely would have been in my Top Ten for 2006). There’s too many movies of interest I have not yet seen, I’m way behind the ball. This is a pretty extraordinary film for what it accomplishes; it is a brilliantly visual film about our sense of smell. It isn’t perfect. I’m not quite sure the ending (which is, in a very over-the-top movie… very over-the-top) completely works and the movie takes a little too much time to make its final point. But all in all, this is a movie to treasure. Now I want to be clear about this: there will be a lot of people that hate this film. You will be totally put off by it and if you don’t have a taste for the grand guginol, stay at home where it is safe. But for everyone else looking to take the plunge, you will be rewarded with one the riskiest films of the year.
