Director: Tom Tykwer
Cast: Ben Whishaw/Dustin Hoffman/Alan Rickman/Rachel Hurd-Wood/Jessica Schwarz
The film tells an unbelievable story about an olfactory genius making perfume from females.
As one of the most gifted and notorious men of 18th-century France, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s life was full of turns and twists. When he was born, he was nearly abandoned to death by his mother. Luckily, his loud cry saved him, but also sent his mother to gallows. Then, he was raised in an orphanage and gradually became a detached boy with an extreme sense of smell. Then, he spent his apprentice’s life in a tannery, a perfume shop where he acquired the basic methods of creating fragrances. The strange thing is that everyone had direct relationship with him died accidentally after his left.
The major part of the story was after he found work in Grasse assisting with perfumes. Through several experiments on prostitutes, he succeeded in preserving the scent of a woman with his original method. Then he passionately quest the 13th scent to make the perfect perfume that it might affect the whole world the moment the bottle was opened. The moment he made it was just the time the police captured him. When his execution day came, he applied a drop of the perfect perfume to himself. Then everything was different. The executioner was overwhelmed by the power of the perfect perfume and declared Grenouille innocent. The crowd in attendance was fascinated by the scent. Finally, he walked out of execution block unscathed. Grenouille discovered that the perfect perfume could rule the world, but would not give him to the ability to love or be loved like a normal person.
He suddenly realized the emptiness of life and returned to the Parisian fish market where he was born. He poured the perfume bottle over his head. Attracted by the scent, the nearby crowd engulfed him.
A great feature story! Personally, I don’t regard the actor as a typical murder for that murder for Grenouille is just a method but not the purpose. All his crimes or you can say all the unreasonable behaviors are for the sole reason-purely out of his love for scent. This motive made no difference to the reason of the group violence of crazy people who ate him up-purely out of love. This film reminds me of two words?evil and live. Being evil is just for living. Also an old saying fleshes in my mind: Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. Once something goes to the extreme, it may become incredible. A drop of perfume can enslave a whole city. And even devil can be angle. Amazing…
What the director wants to convey is evidently shown in the flashback of Grenouille’s memory. When Grenouille saw the crowd released their lust and made love with each other. He recalled the first girl he accidentally killed. If the way he possessed her scent was not murder, but mutual love, the ending would totally reversed. He never gained love, nor to love someone. So his life was meaningless and worthless. So to hell with it he thought. To hell with the world, with the perfume, with himself…
The film is based on the novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind. If you are interested in the story, you can result to the original work. A lot more to be found. In fact, the actor in the film is not as ugly as the author described in the novel. On the contrary, the obsessed expression in the actor’s face is quite charming. Another fascinating point of the film is the continuous naked scenes. These scenes doesn’t look pornographic or disgusting, but of aesthetic feeling. There is also no direct bloody scenes of murdering, though 26 girls in total died in the film. With the pale-yellow tone, the process of watching this film is just going through an art exhibition of Renaissance.