Review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) by Liz — 12 Oct 2010

Perfume (as I will refer to it, to save space) was a very dark, and off-beat movie with very deep underlying tones of menace, greed, and of course, beauty. Perfume is the tale of a young man, Jean Baptise, who was born with a fantastic sense of smell. He can smell everything, and can make any perfume after just smelling it once. So, he begins as an apprentice for a washed up perfume-maker in Paris in the 18th century. As time goes by he craves more and more to be able to take any scent, especially that of a woman, and make it last forever. The rest of the story is his passionate struggle to find this evasive procedure, and keep the scent of women. Along the way there are many gruesome murders, and there is nudity, so I'm not recommending this for the entire class to view, but if you like any of the following, please do view.

1. Ben Whishaw (actor in Perfume, I'm Not There, Bright Star, and much more).

2. Tom Tykwer (director of Perfume, Run Lola Run, The Princess and the Warrior, and many more).

3. Or eerie, dark genre pieces.

Tom Tykwer has a fantastic eye for the unusual, and the way he directed this film brought a very exaggerated sense of Jean into the story. It was odd, but the smells came alive, and the entire movie felt more relevant, and extreme at the same time. There was one shot, that if you see this movie you must look for. It is a very fast pan over a meadow/forest/mountain landscape during which we are "seeing" through Jean's sense of smell. It was incredible.

Finally, because I can't comment on everything, and I really want to. I will say that the acting was amazing! Ben Whishaw has always been an extraordinary young actor, that many have called one of the most promising of his generation, but this really proved his worth. He had a stare like no other, it was very reminiscent of Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Watching him was definitely a pleasure and a gift. Secondly, Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs Kramer, Rain Man, Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland, and much much more) and Alan Rickman (Harry Potter, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, and much much more) had roles that featured them brilliantly. It's not often you see Alan Rickman in a moral role that portrays him as the 'good guy', but he does it well. And Dustin Hoffman, well there is always something darkly humorous about anything he wants to do, especially in Perfume.

DEFIANTLY A MUST SEE!