Review: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Set in France in 1766, Ben Whishaw stars as the grown-up version of an orphan who literally slept with the fishes, born in the Paris fish markets before his mother tried to kill him (for which she was executed). He grows up with a heightened sense of smell and obsessed with the desire to create and preserve the perfect aroma. This stems from the scent he smells off of a pretty young woman he meets on the streets (played by Karoline Herfurth of the vampire flick “We Are the Night”). Unfortunately, this smell was only known to him for a brief period, as in a moment of confusion and panic, he mistakenly smothers her to death. Soon after he hooks up with Italian perfumer Baldini (Dustin Hoffman!) and manages to convince him to take him on as an apprentice. However, this proves unfulfilling for Whishaw, who continues his ‘experiments’, killing a string of women until he meets the luminous Rachel Hurd-Wood, daughter of a local magistrate (Alan Rickman), whose virginal beauty enchants the young perfumer. He must have her.

 

Until the last five minutes, this 2006 film from co-writer/director Tom Tykwer (the overrated “Run Lola Run”) is an absolute winner, and pretty much unlike anything you’ll have seen before. And since I believe it impossible for a great film to have one of the worst finales of all-time, this film winds up being a three-star effort, which could’ve been more if not for that dud ending. It’s an appalling wrap-up that will leave you thinking ‘WTF?’. But boy is almost everything leading up to the ending terrific, making me wonder why the reviews have been so mixed. I get hate for the ending, but the rest is tops.

 

The film’s best asset is the wonderfully and oppressively nasty, foul atmosphere and texture it oozes from start ‘til finish. It’s no surprise that such a period setting could spawn a demented serial killer. But you almost feel sorry for the main character played by Ben Whishaw; What good is it to have a heightened sense of smell when you’re surrounded by mid 1700s Parisian shit and unwashed peasants? It must’ve been one of the worst periods in time to have lived. This is a truly wonderfully finely detailed film with terrific scenery and almost a sense that you’re actually in there, living in these mostly grotty conditions.

 

One detail Tykwer does get wrong is the catastrophic miscasting of Dustin Hoffman as a master perfumer named Baldini. I have no idea why Dustin Hoffman is here, but he shouldn’t be. Hoffman looks completely out-of-place and isn’t even really attempting an accent. Or much of a performance, really. The accent I can forgive, as no one speaks with a French accent in this film anyway, but his presence is incongruous in an otherwise strong film. How miscast is he? Forty or fifty years ago the role would’ve gone to Robert Morley. That’s how miscast Hoffman is. John Hurt’s weary, weathered voice makes for a perfect narrator, however. The lead character played by and the performance given by Ben Whishaw aren’t the most charming or charismatic, but that is as intended. He is one intense and obsessed dude. Truth be told, I think the character would’ve done better to capture the scent of the men in the film, rather than the women. Those are some powder puffs right there. Alan Rickman, meanwhile, doesn’t give the greatest performance of his career or anything but his face and voice drip with dread. He has one absolutely brilliant scene where he tells the kid exactly what he is going to do with him for the wrong he has committed against his family.

 

The closest film comparison I can come up with is “Psycho”, and that is purely in regards to the presentation of the dead and the murders. But that’s probably a stretch, you won’t really have seen anything like this. It’s a bold, uncompromisingly grimy film, and an unusual one from a horrid period in time most of us can’t even imagine ourselves surviving in. It is a film caked in an oppressively grim and dirty atmosphere that is very effectively conveyed without the benefit of smell-o-vision. It deserves to be seen more widely, and admired. I just wish it had a far less outlandish and frankly moronic ending. I would’ve bumped it up a grade. What a shame. Tykwer co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Birkin (“Name of the Rose”, “Omen III: The Final Conflict”) and producer Bernd Eichinger (who had been trying to get this made since the mid 80s), from a 1985 novel by Patrick Süsskind (which apparently inspired Kurt Cobain to write ‘Scentless Apprentice’, featured on Nirvana’s “In Utero”).

 

Rating: B-