Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer (DVD)

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TITLE : Perfume - The Story of a Murderer

RATING: ****½

CAST: Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Richard Felix, Birgit Minichmayr, Reg Wilson.

NARRATOR: John Hurt

DIRECTOR: Tom Tykwer

SCREENWRITERS: Tom Tykwer, Andrew Birkin & Bernd Eichinger

BASED ON NOVEL: "Perfume - The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind
...order to create the ultimate perfume (as the synopsis on the back suggested), though it is also a mesmerizing character study of a most unusual individual. In many ways, he is a creepy chimera, dross of a derelict that speaks little and acts like a murderous mutt on a mission. The truth is that it's impossible to identify with him, and yet we find ourselves curiously following his journey from being an infant left to die by his mother to being a ... more

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TITLE : Perfume - The Story of a Murderer

RATING: ****½

CAST: Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Richard Felix, Birgit Minichmayr, Reg Wilson.

NARRATOR: John Hurt

DIRECTOR: Tom Tykwer

SCREENWRITERS: Tom Tykwer, Andrew Birkin & Bernd Eichinger

BASED ON NOVEL: "Perfume - The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind

STUDIO: DreamWorks Pictures / Constantin Film / VIP Medienfonds 4

RUNNING TIME: 148 minutes

RATED: R (US) & 15 (UK); contains graphic nudity, some sexuality, violence, brief profanity, disturbing images, and adult themes.

DVD AVAILIBILITY: 5 GBP from Amazon; ASIN# B000MTF09A

NOVEL AVAILIBILITY: 6 GBP from Amazon; ISBN# 0141029048

SOUNDTRACK AVAILIBILITY: 14.50 GBP from Amazon; ASIN# B000K2UG7K

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PART ONE: THE AROMA OF ASSASSINATION

"In eighteenth-century France, there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His story will be told here. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name - in contrast to the names of other gifted abominations, de Sade's, for instance, or Saint-Just's, Fouche's, Bonaparte's, etc. - has been forgotten today, it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immortality, or, more succinctly, to wickedness, but because his gifts and sole ambition were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history: to the fleeting realm of scent."

These are the words that open up the 1986 international bestselling novel "Perfume - The Story of a Murderer," the first written by German-born Patrick Suskind. The novel begins in 1738 in Paris, and tells the story of a man who was born with an odorless body, and yet he has the uncanny ability to detect the minutest scents everywhere he went. It is a time when Paris (the largest city in the world) is at the nadir when it came to cities with unpleasant odors, and Suskind goes into vivid detail in how "the streets smelled like manure, the courtyards of urine, the slaughterhouses of congealed blood, and people of rancid cheese and sour milk." Never before had I read a novel that would make me not want to journey back in time…and there were several times that the book made me actually pinch my nose because merely reading it flared my nostrils up. To be honest, though, I would be hard pressed to disagree with Suskind that this is really what it was like in 18th-century Paris before the French Revolution.

Suskind's novel made for more than a compelling read; at first, I thought it would be the simple tale of a serial killer that murders in order to create the ultimate perfume (as the synopsis on the back suggested), though it is also a mesmerizing character study of a most unusual individual. In many ways, he is a creepy chimera, dross of a derelict that speaks little and acts like a murderous mutt on a mission. The truth is that it's impossible to identify with him, and yet we find ourselves curiously following his journey from being an infant left to die by his mother to being a creator of a scent so overpowering and titillating that Suskind makes him come across as an astonishing angel of aroma. Imagine an evil version of Cyrano de Bergerac (with a smaller though no less powerful nose) that is awed by beauty, yet has to destroy it to create a masterpiece, and you will have a better idea of who Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is. Whether or not you want to read the book before watching the film is up to you, but I certainly recommend it; one thing is for sure: Suskind did a staggering amount of research of 18th-century Paris in writing his novel.

A decade after the book was published, director Tom Tykwer (who is also German), decided to adapt Suskind's novel to the big screen, and the results are no less than extraordinary. Tykwer has his own unique style when it comes to filmmaking, and anyone who has seen his 1998 breakout hit Run, Lola, Run can agree with me there. I was dazzled by that story, which focused on a young German girl (played by The Bourne Identity's Franka Potente) who must deliver millions of dollars in drug money before her boyfriend his killed…and I was equally dazzled by Perfume - The Story of a Murderer, with its rich period detail, wantonly presentation, superior performances, and grand visuals. I'm telling you all right now that, aside from some hiccups in the second hour, that this cinematic storytelling at its best, though I'm sure that the dark elements will no doubt some viewers off. However, what's important to note is that the film never judges its' lead character (or his actions, for that matter) which, in turn, doesn't ask us to sympathize with him; that kind of maneuver could have surely ruined the film.

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PAR T TWO: THE ESSENCE OF EXECUTION

Paris, 1738: a young woman working in a fish market suddenly gives birth to a boy and quickly shoves it under the table, waiting for it whither away. When some customers discover the young baby, then summon the police the capture the girl, who is eventually executed. The young boy is taken in by a housemother, who discovers clearly that he has a special gift: an overpowering ability to detect odors and scents down to the all the ingredients. However, he doesn't necessarily get along with the other boys he lives with, and is nearly suffocated to death by several of them. When the house becomes overcrowd, the mother takes the 17-year-old Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw, LAYER CAKE) to a businessman and sells him off. For some time, Grenouille works extremely hard that he earns the trust and respect of his employer; however, he becomes entranced by the odors of the city…but when he falls in love with the scent emitted by a young girl selling fruit, it leads to him killing her, somewhat accidentally. He strips her, takes in her strong feminine fragrance, and discovers a problem: after about a minute, it's gone, and Grenouille is determined to find a way to preserve the scent after death.

While there are several perfumers in Paris, Grenouille decides to go see Giuseppe Baldini (the great Dustin Hoffman, TOOTSIE, RAIN MAN) is aging and has lost all hope for inspiration. While Baldini is impressed by Grenouille's ability to detect scents with his nose (which he labels as the best one in Paris), he ultimately turns down his request to work for him because he has no experience with formulas to make perfumes. As a result, Grenouille almost demands that he do an experiment to prove that he doesn't need formulas; after one minute, he is able to create Baldini's perfume Amor and Psyche without even measuring the ingredients! Sixty seconds later, he is able to go the extra mile by creating a perfume for Baldini that is twice as good as the previous one. Thoroughly dumbfounded---though nonetheless impressed---Baldini pays 50 francs to Grenouille's employers and hires him as his personal apprentice. During Grenouille's education, he realizes he go back to his original goal of preserving scents and after Baldini dies, he goes on a journey into the mountains.

During this hermit period, Grenouille discovers something utterly shocking: while he can smell everything around him, he cannot smell himself! There is not a single odor protruding from Grenouille's body, not even from his armpits or genitals; he determines that he must give himself a human scent, but how? Plus, how can he achieve his dream, which is an odoriferous victory banquet in his honor? The answer is simple: he must kill twelve women, preserve their feminine fragrances, combine them, and come up with his masterpiece…though his final target, the lovely teenager Laura (Rachel Hurd-Wood, PETER PAN) is more difficult to capture than he realizes. What's worse, when word goes out that a serial killer is on the loose, Laura's father Richis (Alan Rickman, LOVE ACTUALLY) goes to extreme measures to protect his daughter.

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PAR T THREE: THE INCENSE OF IMMOLATION

I cannot how imagine how difficult it was for Tykwer to capture the essence (or incense, if you will) of the novel, considering all the in depth descriptions of the stenches and smells of a time long since gone. I've always considered adapting books more difficult than writing original stories, because you are tied on either a) respecting the author's vision and being as faithful as possible or b) dramatizing the elements and be very loose in the storytelling. Much of the first half of the film is lifted directly from the book---aside from an early sequence in which Grenouille's first caretaker complains of him having no odor, and realizes that he must be the spawn of Satan---and the addition of a narrator (John Hurt, Contact) seems to solve the problem of explaining to the viewer Grenouille's actions. The second hour of the film drops the narration and focuses mostly on the murders, resulting in a slight drop in attention to detail…though the final half hour manages to make up for that with a jaw-dropping sequence that I will never forget…and will certainly not describe.

Random changes may have been made, though Tykwer, along with his fellow screenwriters Bernd Eichinger (who also co-produced) and Andrew Berkin, have done a superlative job of preserving the novel's key themes and characterizations, most notably Grenouille's. Even more so, Tykwer has done a magnificent job in capturing all the sights, sounds---and smells, of course---of 18th-century France, right down to the dirty fingernails, rotting teeth, and the filthy, decaying lichen of Paris. Don't get me wrong: I've been to Paris, and it's a beautiful city, though almost 300 years ago I'm sure the streets smelled worse than a dead horse…or a dog farting in your face, take your pick, lol. I especially love the contradiction of Grenouille's character: while he is covered in dirt and rags virtually all the time, he still doesn't stink in anyway. You know, what might have been a cool concept is if Perfume was released in Odor-ama (which most film buffs know was created by John Water), and have theater managers provide scratch 'n' sniff cards to patrons and have them smell different scents throughout the course of the film…then again, I'm not sure if they would want to smell their cards when Grenouille mixes vinegar, salt and fresh cat feces. Joking aside, the bottom line is that Tykwer and his production team---with kudos to costume designer Pierre Yves-Gayraud, production designer Uli Hanisch, and every single one of the makeup/hair stylists (way too many to list) should all be commended for their work.

I would by lying if I didn't say that there certainly is some offbeat casting here…come on, Dustin Hoffman as a French perfumer? I'm a Hoffman fan, and let me say that while he is miscast to some degree, his professionalism rings true and he is actually quite good. Alan Rickman also scores (as usual) as Richis, though we really don't have a chance to get to know Rachel Hurd-Wood's character Laura, though it's also not really required considering what happens late in the story (trust me on this point!). Acting wise, the film really belongs to the unknown, 27-year-old Ben Whishaw who (literally) makes a star-making performance as Grenouille, an effervescent enigma from start to finish. The only other film I'd seen him in up until this point was Layer Cake, where he had a small role; as dark and demented that his character is here, you simply cannot take your eyes off him. The film also benefits from John Hurt's strong narration, even though his exit throughout the second hour is a minor debit.

In addition to directing and co-writing the screenplay, Tom Tykwer was also responsible for the hauntingly beautiful music score, which was also done courtesy of the team of Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil (One Hour Photo). While the music isn't used often, when it is it blends perfectly with the action on screen, particularly in the murder montages. The score was performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker, which was expertly conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, who actually is not only knighted but also a recipient of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to music. The soundtrack of the film from EMI has 18 tracks, though I warn you it is available at a pricey 14.50 GBP from Amazon, so I recommend only devotees of classical scores to checking out.

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PAR T FOUR: THE ODOR OF OBLITERATION

Despite the fact that I have highly praised the film version of Perfume, it must be noted that this film is definitely not for young children, as it has a fairly good supply of nudity and sex, though the violence is minimal, as most of the killings of the women are done off camera, and I think that was very tasteful of Tykwer. Nevertheless, there are a number of rather grotesque images, and one that chilled me in particular is when Grenouille helps a girl by setting a ladder for her to climb down from a loft…though the next scene finds her dead body in a tank complete with a yellowish liquid, which is made up of a number of herbs and oils. Some viewers will no doubt also be disturbed by scenes in which Grenouille puts animal fat on a prostitute's arm so that he could "scrape" off her scent, or when he tears the dress off a woman and smells her entire body up and down. As I said before, Perfume is truly not a film for all tastes, and a certain amount of patience is required until the film's rewarding climax. At a running time of almost 2½ hours, there are some scenes that tend to drag, but for the most part the film runs smoothly to its denouement.

I'm actually a bit disappointed that I didn't catch the film at the cinema, though the good news is that the DVD preserves the 1.78 anamorphic widescreen presentation. Even on the small screen, Frank Greibe's cinematography comes across well, and the print is pretty much free of debris, scratches and specks. No edge enhancement was detected, and the colors are appropriately dulled, which adds immensely to the filthiness of France. The audio is refreshingly available Dolby Digital, which is not usually given to non-Hollywood films like this one, and there are subtitles in English and French (of course, lol!). Fans of the film will also like to sample the salubrious special features, which include the making-of documentary "The Story of Perfume," and several featurettes featuring scouting locations and a look behind-the-scenes. While many of them are rather brief, they still give an adequate overview as to Tykwer's approach to the film using the novel and his huge crew. Also included is a photo gallery, theatrical trailer, and previews for other studio releases.

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PAR T FIVE: THE WHIFF OF WASTING

Being a fan of period pictures, I declare PERFUME -- THE STORY OF A MURDERER grade-A filmmaking while at the same time being entertaining and enlightening, although I also recommend that you read the book by Patrick Suskind, which is available from Amazon for 6 GBP. I want to say that what the book (as well the film in many aspects) does spectacularly well is touch upon the sense of smell more than any other literary work. It's like a Dickens novel, though the characterizations are equally as strong as the descriptions of odors and scents which range from disgusting to sweet to aromatic. In closing, consider this passage just before Grenouille kills the plum seller: "And now he smelled that this was a human being, smelled the sweat of her armpits, the oil in her hair, the fishy odor of her genitals, and smelled it all with the greatest pleasure. Her sweat smelled as fresh as the sea breeze, the tallow of her hair as sweet as nut oil, her genitals were as fragrant as the bouquet of water lilies, her skin as apricot blossoms…and the harmony of all these components yielded a perfume so rich, so balanced, so magical, that every perfume that Grenouille had smelled until now, every edifice of odors that he had so playfully created within himself, seemed at once to be utterly meaningless." One thing is for sure: I'd buy a perfume from him over anything in the Britney Spears/Paris Hilton assembly lines!

The DVD of PERFUME is also available from Amazon for only 5 GBP, which is a decent price for a somewhat epic film with several bonus features. I hope you all enjoyed reading my review…now it's time for me to shower. Have a great weekend…Chris :) 

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