It was a masterful achievement bringing the concepts of scent in to a book, bringing it to the large screen has even more challenges, which I believe was superbly overcome in this film. The film is narrated to ensure the audience understands some of the concepts and some parts of the plot were "dumbed-down" to make sure the audience got the point.
Unfortunately, much of the book had to be skipped in the interest of time much of Grenouille's childhood is glossed over and the bit after the cave visit is completely omitted.
Despite this, the atmospheric sets and brilliant acting (with the exception of a disappointing Mr. Hoffman, who really does not have the stature of a master Parisian perfumer) kept me completely enthralled.
As in the original book, there is quite a bit of nudity, which is tastefully done, but I will be interested to see how this is swallowed in America it will probably get an 18 rating or be cut down, which is a shame, it was given a 12 rating in Germany.
In summary, a really great film, but probably best if you have read the book beforehand..
