Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

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..

Detail / Info

Genre : Crime, Fantasy
Duration : 147 min
Release Date : 05 Jan 2007
Rating : 7.5
Writer : Andrew Birkin (screenplay), Bernd Eichinger (screenplay), Tom Tykwer (screenplay), Patrick Süskind (novel)
Director : Tom Tykwer
Company : Davis-Films
Movie Casts :
Ben Whishaw as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, Simon Chandler as Bürgermeister von Grasse,David Calder as Bischof von Grasse, Richard Felix asMagistrat, Birgit Minichmayr as Grenouilles Mutter, Sian Thomas as Madame Gaillard