Perfume? I'll stick to Pure Poison
 Feb 11th, 2008
(Feb 12th, 2008)
Advantages:
I worked out how to use the DVD myself
Disadvantages:
Lacking in outstanding performances except from noses
Recommendable:
No
Detailed rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to similar films?
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  baeswoman
About me:
Sorry I haven't been around for a bit. Life is still hectic with mum and family..Hopefully I will ha...
Member since:03.09.2002
Reviews:96
Members who trust:31
Review rated by 79 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
It is a strange coincidence, that not having watched a DVD since 'He who used to do the ironing' left carrying several black plastic sacks containing his worldly goods, I did battle with the intricacies of the DVD player and managed for the first time to get it to work and watch a DVD, the very DVD that I watched, Perfume - The story of a Murderer, should appear as this week's product of the week.
It must have been a sign! But was it worth all the effort and stress?
The film is an adaptation of a novel by Patrick Suskind. I had not read the book so I had no preconceived opinions of how this film would be, obviously from the title I concluded that it would be about murders and perfume. The film won several awards in rather obscure award ceremonies, The Germans and Austrians seemed to have a fairly high opinion of its direction,production design,its cinematographer and costume design, however they didn't seem to rate its acting very highly. Only Karoline Herfurth won anything taking the trophy for the Best Young supporting actress in the Undine Awards in Austria.
With Alan Rickman and Dustin Hoffman appearing in the film I expected some good acting despite the lack of recognition by the film industry. The film is set in 18th Century France and captures the filthy squalor suffered by the poor admirably. This was contrasted with the lives
led by the more affluent with scenes of carriages, sumptuous homes and splendid horses ridden by beautiful young ladies with flowing red hair.
The story relates the experiences of Jean Baptiste Grenouille, (Ben Whishaw) orphaned as a newborn baby and abandoned under a fish stall in a market in the slums of 18th Century France.
He is blessed or cursed with an acute sense of smell, certainly cursed when sold into servitude into a tannery. I cannot think of a worse fate for anyone who has any sense of smell at all, perhaps it was this experience that shaped his future life and made him the man he was!
By fortunate (or unfortunate) chance he manages to get himself apprenticed to Guiseppi Baldini a perfumier played by Hoffman - and embarks on his quest to create the perfect perfume.
Apparently according to Baldini 'A great perfume has 3 chords and 12 notes but needs an essential ingredient that makes it stand out from all other perfumes'
Unfortunately for the young women of the neighbourhood Jean Baptiste desires to make a scent of such power that every person on earth will be in paradise. The essential ingredient for this perfume being the intoxicating natural smell of a beautiful young girl. This could only be preserved by bringing about the poor virgin's untimely demise and capturing her essence at the moment of death.
The film gave a whole new meaning to boil in the bag. Gruesome killings plagued the surrounding countryside in the quest for the ultimate essence..obviously the poor unfortunate girls were either not pure enough or lacked an aspect of essential beauty so all their deaths were in vain. (Not pleasant to watch either).
Baldini exploits Jean Baptiste's talents for selfish ends hoping to make a name for himself. Here lies a moral never trust a psychopath especially one so obviously lacking in social graces as Jean-Baptiste! Finally Jean Baptiste sniffs out the beautiful red headed daughter of Antoine Richis played rather woodenly by Alan Rickman and sets about capturing her essence.. Her father sets about marrying her off as quickly as possible. Presumably the aristocratic classes of 18th Century France had higher morals than our current upper classes and remained virgins until marriage (rather unbelievable).
I will stop here because I would not like to spoil the film for anyone who has not seen it apart to say that the final scenes are extremely surreal or farcical depending on how much wine you have consumed before watching it.
So was it worth the effort and stress? In my opinion the acting was not terribly good, and in some scenes incredibly wooden. I thought that Ben Whishaw was the most convincing actor using body language rather than the spoken word to build up the atmosphere of fear and menace that pervaded the film although I got rather repulsed by the close ups of noses and of Jean Baptiste skulking and sniffing his way through the film.
I was impressed by the costumes and the sets but that is not a powerful reason to watch a film. Some of the scenes were quite gruesome but not as bad as some of the scenes in Casualty or Holby City. The soundtrack, performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Simon Rattle, added to the feel of menace and suspense throughout the film
I would have been disappointed if I had paid for this but as I borrowed it from my son I suppose the best that can be said is that passed a bit of time harmlessly. I certainly wouldn't be in a hurry to watch it again.
Cast Ben Whishaw
Rachel Hurd Wood,
Alan Rickman,
Dustin Hoffman,
Credits
Director(s): Tom Tykwer.
Produced by Bernd Eichinger
Written by Patrick Süskind (novel)
Screenplay Andrew Birkin, Tom Tykwer Bernd Eichinger
Narrated by Tom Tykwer
Music by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil
performed by Berliner Philharmoniker
conducted by Simon Rattle
Cinematography Frank Griebe
Those of you that have not been deterred by my review can purchase this from:
www.play.com for 11.99
or www.amazon.co.uk from £4.98
If you would like to watch a trailer of the film try
www.perfumemovie.com What's included in the DVD Courtesy of www.zavvi.co.ukz
Catalogue number: P921501001
Original language: English
Product format DVD
Label: Pathe
Colour format: Colour
Sound format: Dolby Digital 5.1
Display: Widescreen
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
DVD region: 2 - Europe and Japan
Video system: PAL
DVD special features: Making of Documentary.
Scent Visualisation - Bringing scent to the screen.
Location Scouting - the art of re-creating the 18th Century.
The work of a Director of Photography.
Behind the scenes at the mixing stage.
Original Theatrical Trailer.
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
Extra features (Courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk ) EXTRA FEATURES- The Making Of Perfume documentary
- Location Scouting featurette
- Scent Visualisation featurette
- Director Of Photography featurette
- Mixing Stage featurette
- Behind-the-scenes photo gallery
- Theatrical trailer
I am unable to comment on any of these additional features as I did not watch them having had enough difficulty getting the film to play
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by (5%):
24.03.2008 05:26
Brilliant review. Pete x.
23.03.2008 10:18
Nice one, though it does not appeal to me. John
20.02.2008 09:52
Good detailed review, not too sure that this is one I want to watch...