Post Release PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER Discussion

I'm glad to hear that you have a positive review of this. Although its been a while since I read it (I guess I picked it up when "Scentless Apprentice" was popular), I remember the book as being an extremely compelling story of Grenouille's weird, alienated life. When I heard about the film, I was really looking forward to it. Then, I read a couple of negative reviews and it seemed to slip below the radar. Even if it isn't a perfect film, your review makes me want to see it just for the way that Twyker visualizes scent. I hope that it generates enough money and enthusiasm to make it to a theater somewhere near me.

It's funny...I'm wholly in agreement with Devin about the strengths and weaknesses of the movie, but my overall opinion of it was much more negative.

I hadn't read the book but was intrigued by the whole bizzare precept of this film. I really loved this movie even though I was laughing at some of the silliness in parts (the shot of the bishop at the end for example, as well as some of the 'extras').

I think the 'fantastical' ending will grow on me over time, I just didn't buy it on first viewing even though intellectually I loved the surrealness of it. I have a great deal of admiration for filmmakers who take big risks like the ending of this film.

The first rate 'period piece' production values really help the look (and smell) of the film. I agree with Devin for the most part, the world they create in this film is fun to get sucked into even if there are moments where they lose you.

I liked the film, but I had many problems with it as well. I thought the voice over was for the most part useless and it didn't tell me anything that I already didn't know or feel. And if there was some great irony in it then I guess I missed it.

Ebert came out to do a review of this and gave it his highest rating:

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer BY ROGER EBERT / January 5, 2007

Regrettably, one of the normally better reviewers I read, peter Bradshaw, didn;t like the film at all.
Anyway, I was rather taken with this film. The plot was... unusual, and unexpected, and it sometimes felt a little off-kilter, but I like endings that surprise me.
The cinematography and directing, of course, were superb.

Hey, I respect the hell out of Ebert, but for a review of a movie this tit-heavy, I'm surprised he didn't invent a 5-star rating.

I liked Ebert's review, but it feels like he's reviewing the book, and then Dustin Hoffman, rather than the film. Whatever the case, I loved it. I found it wonderfully goofy and absurd, like the world's classiest slasher film evolving into a meditation on the role of an artist, told through the spectrum of a fairy tale. I was seduced by the movie, and most of the time I couldn't tell why- though they dropped the ball on not making this a scratch-and-sniff experience.

Holly Hell this movie totally surprised me. I have beena fan of the book for quite a while and was really excited about the adaptation. When it first started though I was quite nervous. It started off really quite rushed especially with the good but incessant narration. It was clear that the filmakers were struggling as to how to pack a whole lot of information in the begg. I was also put off by Dustin Hoffman. I mean I liked him but he never quite set right with me. He just never fit the role as I was hoping too.

But then I started to like it and really started like it and by the last 40 minutes I was in love with the film. I know people have a problem with the ending I COMPLETELY disagree. It was weird but it made perfect sense. Considering the whole movie was about the power and complexties of perfume and scent it makes perfect sense. On top of the that our main character like Frankenstein was a tragic monster in every sense forever excluded from the human race who must pay for his sins in the end. It is because of this that the final sacrifice at the very end of the film makes perfect sense and is quite beautiful.

But more importantly I have to give all the credict to the director Tom Tryker. Next to Children Of Men , The Fountian , Pan's Labrynth Perfume is a literal feast for the sense. The film is a knockout visually and makes an incredibly distinct viewing experience. I loved how this film was put together. It was simply entrancing. This movie should get more attention.


I guess I have to see Princess And The Warrior now.

9/10

Like Devin I found the first half, aside from a few minor setpieces, largely lacking. But I found the second half to be utterly superb. It's very hard to like any of the characters in the first half because aside from Hoffman no one is given a chance to really do anything.

Once the transition has been made to the country town we get this influx of interesting minor characters and the gallows humour, which was evident right at the start, comes back full swing.

I loved the murder montage particularly because after the first killing it seemed to be played as some bizarre comedy more than anything else. But the film seems to become very sympathetic to Jean-Baptiste's ideology and aside from the first few and the very last of the murders the rest of the killings are played for laughs or pushed aside. The surrealistic ending is particularly great though, although I found Rickman's inability to do anything really devastating.

It just kinda reminded me (in tone, not production value) of an old Hammer Horror film.

I saw this yesterday afternoon.

I have to agree with most that it was mostly enjoyable and engaging with the occasional scene that didn't seem to fit in the intricate puzzle.

Whishaw did a fantastic job in the role as the eerily creepy young man with a keen olfactory sense. I looked him up on IMDb and was surprised to learn he played Sidney, the crazy guy who kills XXXX in Layer Cake. He could certainly compete with Christian Bale (circa The Machinist) in the super lightweight department.

Hoffman was especially goofy, as it seemed as if he couldn't decide whether he wanted to use an accent or not, so he settled for both. That and the use of the Italian word "Basta" (which means "Stop"), which he totally abused. When he disappeared from the film, I was happy.

I certainly enjoyed the latter half of the film, as Grenouille begins to kill more to make his "ultimate" perfume, though I was a little blindsided by the community orgy and his self-sacrifice in the last 10-15 minutes.

Hurd-Wood was quite enchanting and it's hard to believe she's the same girl who played Wendy a few years ago in the live-action adaptation of Peter Pan. I never got around to seeing An American Haunting, though I did happen to see her in the Sherlock Holmes movie she appeared in with Rupert Everett as the haughty gumshoe that played in the last couple of years as part of Masterpiece Theatre.

Rickman, was as always, great in his role as the aristocrat. I could listen to him read the phone book and be entertained.

And John Hurt's narration lends the right bit of aged wisdom and uneasiness to the story.

Overall, I'd recommend it if you're a fan of Tykwer (which I am), though I have enjoyed his other films more.

I thought this movie was very not-great.

The ending was easily a highlight, and redeemed the messy first hour or two, but I don't know if it was enough.

There's nobody to root for in any way, the lead being completely filthy and sniffy and gaunt. It's overlong and repetitive and bordering on gratuitously tedious with endless shots of noses, sniffing, creeping and gaping. Then the silly Hurt narration.

I mean it was ok I suppose in many ways... Perhaps I would've appreciated it more in the theater, and I can agree with many points in Devin's review. Overall, being a fan of Tykwer's earlier films and having no knowlege of the source novel I found it to be a tedious, tedious film, although handsome looking.

I DID love the ending though.

I enjoyed this movie visually if nothing else. It felt like somthig I could pretty much turn mu brain off for and simply enjoy, like a painting.

Rickman was great, almost always is imo.

Fuck, I hate Dustin Hoffman. He seems to be the same character just tweaked by small degrees in every movie. Rain Man , ok, but everything else he's so ineffectual, it makes me cringe.

Wow, I absolutely loved this movie. I liked how it played, in some strange way, like the story of a potential supervillain who gains powers that could enslave the world. Tom Tykwer also managed to bring a world of scent alive through visuals, and the visuals in this movie are completely breathtaking. I thought Hoffman added some nice comic relief and didn't distract from the film like I thought he would.

I'm with Ebert on this one. This will probably be one of the ten best I see this year.

I read the book about nine years ago because a friend recommended it, telling me "It was Kurt Cobain's favorite book." I enjoyed that quite a bit, although I had similar complaints with it as I did the movie.

 

The movie is very true to the book. It's also a very beautiful movie, but it didn't really gel for me. Most of the camera tricks used to visualize scent, and the vibrant colors juxtaposed with the washed out grays and earth tones, brought the movie to life but CGI manipulation at times took me totally out of the narrative.

 

Grenouille himself, as well, is a hard nut to crack. He barely speaks for the first half of the film and most of his actions are reprehensible, but suddenly in the second half he's a master at breaking into any fortress and a Machiavellian planner. There were a few jarring transitions, as well, such as when he wakes up in the cave with long hair and a beard. I know this was supposed to evoke the passage of time (he hadn't been sleeping for months, he was just living out of the cave), but it came across as goofy.

 

I did like the nihilism on display, such as all of Grenouille's former masters coming to a bitter end. The movie itself, especially the beginning, is quite sickening and almost ventured into a sick for sick's sake, but it did present a believably decadent Paris of the 18th century. 

 

I enjoyed, but probably wouldn't watch it again.