Review of Scent of a Woman (1992) by Ashley R — 05 Oct 2010
"Scent of a Woman" is a great film but only in parts. The story is about a teenager who learns from and teaches a blind war veteran a few things about life. The problem with the film is that while there are certain individual sequences which are, for want of a better word, outstanding, the film never comes together as a whole like it should.
It's too long, too meandering with too many extra and unnecessary scenes. It overstays its welcome by a solid half hour. However, there are three things that work in favour of the movie. First and foremost are the performances.
Pacino finally got an Oscar for his portrayal of the wildly original and over the top Lt. Col. Frank Slate. He brings another dimension to the character with his detailing and his charm. At the same time, one cannot (but often does, unfortunately) overlook the performance of Chris O'Donnell.
In each and every scene, he holds his own before Al Pacino extremely well. He takes to the character extremely well and gives a very memorable performance as Charlie. The second thing that goes in favour of the movie are certain scenes which are superbly executed.
These include the now infamous tango scene, the outburst in the hotel room, the Ferrari sequence, Al Pacino's outburst in the climax and the closing scene of the film among some others. These moments while individually dramatic in their impact, unfortunately, almost get lost because of the muddled writing.
The third thing that goes in favour of the movie are its two principle characters. While Frank Slate is completely unpredictable with a big heart, Charlie is a calm teenager with integrity but under-confident.
The interplay between these characters is interesting and well developed and you almost fall in love with them. These three factors prevent the movie from becoming a disaster and actually makes it an above average watch.
Overall, "Scent of a Woman" is a great story reduced to a decent film thanks to poor scripting. Watch it for the performances of Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell!
This review of Scent of a Woman (1992) was written by Ashley R on 05 Oct 2010.
Scent of a Woman has generally received very positive reviews.
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