He lived to find
beauty. He killed to possess it.
I am talking
about the 2006 German Drama film, Perfume – the story of a murderer, an
adaptation from the novel of the same name!
The film, directed by Tom Tykwer is set in 18th century
Paris, where Jean
Baptist Grenouille, an
eccentric with superior olfactory senses creates the worlds finest perfumes. Events
take a dark turn when he embarks on a quest to create the ultimate perfume.
The film
starts with Jean Baptist Grenouille, a notorious murder, played by Ben Wishhaw,
being sentenced to death.
The film
then moves into the flashback narrating the life of Grenouille from the time of
his birth in Paris stench , his growing up in an orphanage to his servitude in
a tannery, to his quest for creating the ultimate perfume.
Grenouille
is exposed to many smells when he visits a posh Paris market one day. He
focuses on a girl selling plum and is very fascinated by it. He suffocates her
to death when he tries to stop her from screaming. Grenouille realizes the
smell of the girl’s body fades away when she dies. Hence starts Grenouille’s
obsession to learn to preserve scent forever.
Grenouille
convinces Baldini, a celebrated perfumer, to teach him to preserve scents; in
turn he creates several new perfumes for Baldini. When Grenouille realizes that
Baldini’s method cannot preserve scents of all objects he is devastated and moves
to Grasse, to leave advanced perfumery methods.
En route
Grasse he realizes that he doesn’t have a smell of his own, and hence he
embarks on a new quest, to create the world’s most unique perfume to prove his
worth.
He learns to
preserve the scent of humans by covering them with animal fat and then distilling
it. But in order to do that he has to kill the human. And to create the ultimate perfume he has to extract scent of 13 beautiful young women.
Grenouille embarks
on a killing spree killing young beautiful women dumping their naked corpse thought
out the town creating havoc and chaos.
Grenouille
selects Laura for his 13th scent, but her father, played by Alan
Rickman, realizes the danger and takes her to a secluded country side inn. But
Grenouille tracks down her scent and kills her and complete his perfume.
The film
moves to the present where jean Baptist Grenouille is being taken for
execution. He applies a drop of the
perfume on himself. The executioner and the crowd in attendance are overwhelmed
by the beauty of the perfume. They declare Grenouille innocent before falling
into an orgy.
The final scene, more gruesome
than the murders, is at the birth place of Grenouille, where he pours his
perfume on himself and is then Devoured by the people.
The actor Whishaw who
plays Grenouille, has done a very good job. Grenouille is an ambivalent
character and you never know whether to love him for his genius talent or to
hate him for his cruel murders. Whishaw's half-crazy, scary gaze sure runs a
shiver down my spine.
Dustin Hoffman as old
and unsuccessful perfumer Baldini was very convincing, and Alan Rickman plays
the single protective father with flair.
Though you can't actually smell all the scents and
odors, The director, with the images and the music allows you to experience the
atmosphere and the feelings of Grenouille.
You may not savor it
but you will not stop watching it, in horror and fascination. Perfume – the
story disgusts but keeps you glued to the screen wanting you to punish Grenouille for his savagery and also
hoping he is freed.
