Review - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Yes, I have finally watched a movie called Perfume.

It started out with a text message conversation. My friend wanted to hang out and watch a movie tonight.
I thought: Cool!

He said he had a movie in mind that he thought I'd like.
I thought: Cool!

He said it was called Perfume.
I thought: ........ummmmmm......

He said it was my type of movie and he is seldom wrong when he says that, so we watched it.

Wow!

I went into this movie with the expectation that it would be only decent enough to warrant the "you'll like it" comment from my friend. I came out utterly blown away with this intensely marvelous movie.

I'll say it again. Wow!

And something else: Brilliant.

The story of this movie is unlike anything I have ever seen before - a boy is born with an unusually strong sense of smell. He smells, it seems, much as a dog would smell, and he sees the world through the vibrant colors of olfactory. The story traces his life as he strives to create the ultimate scent. I take that back, it's not really the creation of the ultimate scent. He is working to capture wonderful scents so they never fade, which leads him down the path that is, for lack of a better term, dark.

I know, I know, it sounds silly. Downright stupid even. I get it. I thought the same thing. But trust me, it is anything but brainless. The story is dark, a little twisted, sometimes downright humorous, and has one hell of an ending. The ending, in fact, struck me as completely strange until I sat down and thought about it for a bit. It suddenly all made sense... It fit with the movie's themes and was a cute little jab at human nature to boot. Brilliant.

Easily the best thing about the movie was Ben Whishaw. I'm not familiar with him from any of his other work, though a quick IMDB search reveals that he seems to stick mostly to period pieces (this movie takes place in France in the 18th century). I wish he was in more, as we can definitely add him to the list of actors and actresses that I'd pay to see in a movie. Whishaw plays the central character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Let me take a moment to say that I don't think even more well-known character actors like Johnny Depp or Russell Crowe could create a more believable, richer, or deeper character than Whishaw portrayed with Grenouille. Grenouille has twitches and ticks and mannerisms, a distinctive speech pattern, quirks in the way he moves, and a vast array of subtle facial expressions. Not one expression or movement is out of character, not one word or breath. The movie gave me plenty of time to find fault, as there were many, many moments in the movie where the camera would just sit on Grenouille, and I got to watch his reaction to other things that were happening or being said off screen. Whishaw pulls each moment off fantastically.

Also of note, both Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman are in the movie, and both are superb as well. I should say that Hoffman's accent grated on me a little, but that is a trifling concern when held up against everything else in the movie.

The score felt overdone in some places, but on the whole, it was a pleasure to listen to.

I wish I could say more, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything for those of you who haven't seen it yet and may want to. If you haven't seen it yet, I implore you to go rent it and give it a shot. It's 2.5 hours very well spent.

Oh, one final thing that really stuck out to me in this movie was the camera work. The crew had the unenviable task of taking a story that is all about smell and making audiences feel that with only video. The camera does a wonderful job of visually connecting us to what Grenouille is smelling. The shots are up close and personal, you can see the little details, the textures, and the colors explode off the screen. Throughout I was thinking to myself that this must be how he sees the world, all the detail. It was pleasantly surprising.

Anyway, enough rambling before I start to give things away. Go watch this movie... NOW!

Score: 9.8/10.0