Don’t watch it while you’re eating.
In fact, don’t watch it soon after you’ve eaten.
It’s a rough, tough, unpleasantly gory start.
But it gets better.
And better.
And better.
Set in pre-revolution France Perfume is the story of a man with an extraordinary gift – the power to ‘divine’ smells.
In a time when open sewers ran through the streets and many of the population lived in total squalor…
In a time when fresh, uncontaminated drinking/washing water was as far out of reach of everyone on the planet as eradicating hunger is today…
The gift of scent and the ability to mask the unpleasantly odorous with something pleasant…
This would have been a gift greater than anyone of the time could have imagined.
Despite being gritty and treating the period with great realism, this is a beautiful film.
The cinematography is brilliant.
A moving portrait of shades, colours and hues.
And, I think, homage to Stanley Kubrik.
Was I imagining nods in the direction of A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon?
The cast is underplayed, a strange thing to say with a cast as strong as this (Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Rachel Hurd-Wood and beautifully narrated by John Hurt).
The locations are stunning.
The story is stunningly woven.
The combination of a German director, German producer and international cast have made something incredibly worthwhile.
An unusual subject, stunningly filmed.
Have you read the book? I did years ago but it is quite unforgettable!
Hi!
No, I haven’t read the book. But my wife has and it’s for that reason we saw the film.
I might read it now but reading time is being compressed.
Thanks for coming by.
B.