Review of Perfect Sense (2011) by Jiana W — 01 Jan 2013

Perfect Sense is a film possessing an interesting idea, and yet, in the end leaves you with the feeling that so much more could have been explored here.

Central is the theme that people do what people will do, and that, in particular, without love and companionship the human condition is nothing. This is all wrapped up in a parable about an epidemic wherein people begin to lose their senses one by one; all while a narrator tells us that we should take note of all of our senses, and the film follows by pointing out that without the sense of smell to trigger our memories, those memories themselves fade. This is a nice observation as whenever I smell the first scent of ozone before a fall rain it brings back memories of earlier rainy days.

However, this film, featuring Ewan McGregor, while having some poetic moments, and others of blunt realism, still somehow fails to mesh, as there is a certain fatalism at work here which strips the film of many a potential dramatic moment. That you somehow fail to really care much about the entire enterprise, let alone the blossoming love amongst the ruins affair of McGregor and scientist/love interest Eva Green is not the fault of the actors, for they are just fine, if not a bit hemmed in by script restraints... and it isn't that the script doesn't have some very truthful and lovely moments (I'm not going to reveal the ending here, but rather will simply say that it is poignant and satisfying). So then why does the film not illicit a better response? I suspect because the overall arc is so very matter of fact and that, even while showing the love connection between the two leads, the film somehow remains at odds and is often very clinical in its portrayal of the end of the world.

I did rather enjoy the what if scenario involving a restaurant, and found the critic writing about the texture of the food to be a nice touch (am I revealing too much by mentioning this when I have already mentioned that the film is about a lose of the senses?). But.. these moments are unfortunately too few and in its short run time, I felt that too much time was invested on things that ultimately didn't matter (like the running of the restaurant), while other opportunities (like more investigation into the epidemic) remained un-mined gold.

I also felt that the flow of the film could have been better and that the artsy collages of world events were more of a distraction than a contribution to the film. Regardless, this film does have some merit in spite of some rather clumsy handling of the topic.