PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER
DreamWorks SKG
145 min., dir. by Tom Tykwer, with Dustin Hoffman, Ben Whishaw, and Rachel Hurd-Wood
Based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Süskind, Perfume is a story of murder and obsession set in 18th century France. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) has a unique talent for discerning the scents and smells that swirl around him, which he uses to create the world’s finest perfumes. Strangely lacking any scent of his own, he becomes obsessed with capturing the irresistible but elusive aroma of young womanhood. Perfume is a movie that is hard to describe. I guess the closest comparison that I can make is a combination of The Libertine and From Hell. This is a very dark and demented period piece. If you have a squeamish stomach I would recommend closing your eyes for the first five minutes or so due to scenes of a childbirth and shots of rotting fish and entrails in the middle of a fish market in 18th century France.
The casting is an interesting choice as Jean-Baptist is played by Ben Whishaw, somebody I have never heard of. He is one creepy dude, that’s for sure. What came as a pleasant surprise was the appearances of Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman. Hoffman plays the has-been perfumer who buys Jean-Baptiste and promises to teach him how to capture a scent in return for rejuvenating his business. Rickman plays the father of Rachel Hurd-Woods character, the final ingredient in Baptiste’s perfume. I loved Rickman in Die Hard and Dogma and thought he was perfect in the Harry Potter movies, and he does no worse in Perfume. He takes it upon himself to be the one to capture Baptiste and plays the “father out for revenge” quite well. The last thing I want to mention about the cast is that Rachel Hurd-Wood and the Plum girl are two of the most stunning redheads I have ever seen. If anybody out there can get me an autographed photo I would be much obliged.
This is a decent film, if not my kind of movie. The plot is straightforward and, barring the first few minutes, isn’t very gory. Sure, there are disturbing scenes, but it is a thriller. My only complaint is the ending. I don’t want to give it away but the last 10 minutes or so had me going, “What the hell is going on?” But times are changing and the standard Hollywood endings are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Which most of the time is a good thing, but the end still needs to make sense.
