Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), 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, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman

15 wins & 19 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
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
Carlos Gramaje	...	Police Lieutenant Fishmarket
Sian Thomas	...	Madame Gaillard
Michael Smiley	...	Porter

Storyline

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) came into the world unwanted, expected to die, yet born with an unnerving sense of smell that created alienation, as well as talent. Of all of the smells around him, Grenouille is beckoned to the scent of a woman's soul, and spends the rest of his life attempting to smell her essence again by becoming a perfumer, and creating the essence of an innocence lost.

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Plot Keywords:

18th century | smell | scent | perfume | sense of smell | 

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Taglines:

Obsession can cause the unthinkable.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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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 [France] Official site [Russia]

Country:

Germany France Spain USA Czech Republic Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Latvia UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$37,079, 31 December 2006

Gross USA:

$2,223,293

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$135,039,924

Company Credits

Production Co:

Constantin Film, 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 movie 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

At one of the very first scenes of Jean-Baptiste execution, right before crowd starts fighting for the best place to see it, an antenna can be seen next to the balcony where the authorities and Laura's father are standing. It is easily identifiable as the peak of Calatrava Telecommunications Tower at Montuich mountain at Barcelona, which is quite near the building where the scene was shot.

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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

Featured in At the Movies: The Painted Veil/Miss Potter/Perfume: The Story of a Murderer/Notes on a Scandal/The Curse of the Golden Flower/Pan's Labyrinth (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

I was surprised

I just read the book last week and watched the movie yesterday. And I have to say, I liked it. For sure, it wasn't as good as the book. On the one hand it is hard to visualize smells and on the other hand not everything can be shown during the movie. But for me, it was realized pretty well. Even you can not smell the things, you can imagine how they smell which may be due to the camera work, which was well done! For me, the actors did a really good job, too. They played their roles really good and according to Grenouille, I really thought that he was the Grenouille described in the book. The only "negative" thing I can say about that, is that in the book he is described as an ugly person, but Ben Wishow is not ugly. But to me, that didn't really matter. So, all in all I have to say, that the movie isn't as good as the book (which is mostly the case), but although I think that it is a really good made movie.