Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Directed by Tom Tykwer
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.
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Perfume is easily the most nasally fixated movie to hit theaters since John Waters distributed "Odorama" scratch-and-sniff cards for Polyester, but here the olfactory theme is pursued with costumed gravitas and whispered awe.
Still, it's fascinating, a relentlessly grotesque chiaroscuro vision of 18th century Europe, a serial-killer film that simultaneously channels early David Cronenberg, "Barry Lyndon" and "Oliver!"
"Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" went to director Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run") and screenwriter Andrew Birkin ("The Cement Garden"), who have faithfully adapted the plot but willfully missed the point of the story.
Though he could have done something full of ironic dazzle, something like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Fight Club , Tykwer has chosen not to make a cult film with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
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It's based on Patrick Suskind's weirdo novel, and it's from German director Tom Tykwer (who made the groovy Run Lola Run and The Princess and the Warrior), so I kind of had my hopes up.
Tykwer is an incredible visualist ("The Princess and the Warrior," "Heaven," "Run Lola Run"), and "Perfume" reaches such operatic, hand-painted heights of life and death, sections of the film look as though they were pulled from the walls of an art gallery.
Though he could have done something full of ironic dazzle, something like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Fight Club , Tykwer has chosen not to make a cult film with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
Tykwer is an incredible visualist ("The Princess and the Warrior," "Heaven," "Run Lola Run"), and "Perfume" reaches such operatic, hand-painted heights of life and death, sections of the film look as though they were pulled from the walls of an art gallery.
Director Tom Tykwer ("Run, Lola, Run," "Heaven") finally stops trying to be the late, great Krzysztof Kieslowski and in so doing, delivers a breathtaking film.