Review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) by Michaele. — 19 Feb 2007

Near-brilliant. A much finer adaptation of the book than I had ever expected. If the investigation sequence toward the end had been trimmed down (I think that part is ten pages in the book) and had Dustin Hoffman picked an accent and stuck with it, it might have been my favorite movie of the year.

Not that there aren't other problems, but the film carries a sense of LIFE about it that no other film this year quite has. It's a fantasy that's real. I suspect that he and the other stars were cast because Tykwer liked their noses, but Whishaw is perfect as Grenouille -- he's supposed to be totally empty, a non-entity, someone who would never be noticed on the street, and he does all these things while still managing to hold the attention of the viewer.

I suspect that in order to really get this film, one must have felt as though he or she was invisible at some point: Grenouille is an invisible man who manages to force himself to be noticed. And the conclusion is great; very appropriate.

It may take some thinking to come to this conclusion, but at the end Grenouille, for a few shining minutes, Grenouille is a power for (almost) good.