Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writers:

Andrew Birkin (screenplay), Bernd Eichinger (screenplay),

Stars:

Ben Whishaw, Francesc Albiol, Dustin Hoffman

12 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Whishaw	...	Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
Francesc Albiol	...	Court Official
Gonzalo Cunill	...	Guard 1 Dungeon
Roger Salvany	...	Guard 2 Dungeon
Andrés Herrera	...	Door Guard (as Andres Herrera)
Simon Chandler	...	Mayor of Grasse
David Calder	...	Bishop of Grasse
Richard Felix	...	Chief Magistrate
Birgit Minichmayr	...	Grenouille's Mother
Reg Wilson	...	Customer - Fishmarket
Catherine Boisgontier	...	Woman - Fishmarket
Núria Casas	...	Woman 2 - Fishmarket (as Nuria Casas)
Carlos Gramaje	...	Police Lieutenant - Fishmarket
Sian Thomas	...	Madame Gaillard
Michael Smiley	...	Porter

Storyline

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of eighteenth century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

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Plot Keywords:

perfume | scent | search | stench | maze | 

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Taglines:

Based on the best-selling novel

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] Official site [de]

Country:

Germany France Spain USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Perfume

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia

Box Office

Budget:

€50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£485,200 (UK) (29 December 2006)

Gross:

$2,208,939 (USA) (23 February 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Constantin Film Produktion, VIP 4 Medienfonds, Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

147 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Other directors interested in making this film were Martin Scorsese, Milos Forman and Stanley Kubrick. In 1990 Roman Polanski gave an interview in which he said producer Claude Berri wanted him to direct.

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Goofs

The lavender fields are clearly Lavendula intermedia, natural hybrid of Lavendula angustifolia (the true lavender used in perfumery) and Lavendula latifolia. Lavendula intermedia was discovered only at the end of 19th century and cultivated from the 1930's. Its flower is bigger (and the visual aspect more suitable for a movie) than Lavendula angustifolia but its natural essence is less fine.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Court Official: Quick. We can't hold them back much longer. Hurry. Come on!

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Connections

Referenced in Wild Chicks in Love (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Tarentelle"
(Traditional)
Performed by Saboï and its Members
Asta Coulomb, Christian Coulomb, Sebastien Coulomb, François Hecquet, Bertrand Mercier, Nicolas Pillard,
Edo Pols, Jocelyn Raulet, Simon Staelens, Remi Tran-No
By arrangement: Christian Coulomb

User Reviews

A sensual experience

To my dismay this movie has been accused of dealing with the addressed subjects only on the surface and just trying to shock the audience with extreme imagery. I strongly have to disagree with that. "Das Parfum" may be a lot of things but shocking sure isn't one of them. Of course it is visually overwhelming and not only with pictures of pretty flowers and sounds of the wind softly shaking the trees on a warm summer night but what is this movie, if not a piece about the sensuality of the human being? Yes, it is about smells but smelling is just simply not one of the things you can experience while sitting in a movie theatre. This motion picture however comes very close to it. We see close-ups on maggots crawling around and fish getting their heads chopped of but also human bodies in all their perfection and people declaring their honest love for one another. It might be impossible to make the audience fully understand the world in which Jean-Baptiste Grenouille lives but it does manage to create a similar vibe that brings us close to what Grenouille "feels" when he smells. Tom Tykwer beautifully achieves to always put the audience in the right mood, with the help of an amazing soundtrack and great camera work.

One could criticize that Ben Wishaw is too good looking for the part but we have to keep in mind that this story is supposed to be about the character of Grenouille and the way he himself sees his live. Since to him, the smell is the soul of every being, his appearance does not matter to him. So we might as well thank Tom Tykwer for casting an actor who is pretty decent to look at for two and half hours.

Please watch this movie without any prejudices. Open your mind to images and sounds and try to imagine what your feeling could "smell" like. And even if that does not work you can still just enjoy a beautifully told story. Either way, you will be touched.