Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writers (WGA):

Andrew Birkin (screenplay) &
Bernd Eichinger (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

He lived to find beauty. He killed to possess it.

Plot:

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, 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.

Plot Keywords:

Naked Dead Woman | Nude Body | Disturbing | Shaved Body | Corpse

Awards:

12 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Ben Whishaw	...	Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
Francesc Albiol	...	Court Official
Gonzalo Cunill	...	Guard 1 Dungeon
Roger Salvany	...	Guard 2 Dungeon
Andrés Herrera	...	Door Guard (as Andres Herrera)
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

Also Known As:

Parfum - Die Geschichte eines Mörders, Das (Germany)
Parfum - Histoire d'un meurtrier, Le (France)
Perfume (International: English title) (informal short title)
Perfume - Historia de un asesino, El (Spain)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images.

Runtime:

147 min

Country:

USA | France | Germany | Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Czech Republic:12 | Spain:18 | Australia:MA | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Singapore:R21 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Japan:PG-12 | UK:15 | Malaysia:18PL | Argentina:16 | USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Sweden:15 | Peru:18 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Brazil:16 | South Korea:15 | Ireland:15A | Hong Kong:IIB | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Constantin Film Produktion

Trivia:

Author Patrick Süskind is known to be very skeptical and for a long time did not want to sell the movie rights to his novel. His experience with producer Bernd Eichinger and others who desperately wanted to turn "Das Parfum" into a movie was shown in the satire Rossini (1997), for which he wrote the screenplay himself. His character is the strange author Jakob Windisch, Producer Bernd Eichinger is portrayed in the character Oskar Reiter. In Rossini, the book everybody was fighting over was changed into a novel about the Loreley-legend. Other characters in this movie are caricatures of the Munich media business.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Midway through the movie a whore appears with a Pekingese dog. The Pekingese were not formally introduced into Europe until midway through the 19th Century when Britain and France "sacked" the Chinese Empire (circa 1860). The Pekingese were kept exclusively in the Chinese Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) until then and maintained by eunuchs. The movie takes place in the mid 18th Century. While it may be possible British or French royalty could have had a Pekingese (although extremely unlikely), a French harlot owning a Pekingese in the 1700's is an impossibility.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Court Official: Quick. We can't hold them back much longer. Hurry. Come on!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-01-06)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Tarentelle

Best Big Budget

People who know the book tend to expect an exact illustration. This c a n work, but serves in any case to prove the book as untouchable "original" of which the movie manages or not to find appropriate images. The film has its flaws, I admit. I won't repeat the points others found. But the book has flaws as well. Art is always flawed. So Süskind fails to make his main character real. Through narration we understand smell to be deeply connected to our emotions, but we have no soul in the book to identify with. Therefore everything is left to our imagination.

Did anyone really wish to accompany an ugly, demented Grenouille two and a half hours long, and smile about the satirical and philosophical subtleness of the story? Film is a completely different art and requires the freedom to develop its own language. Imho Tom Tykwer made such a strong and overwhelming intro, the first 30 minutes are so good, that the rest of the movie, though good too, can't top it.

Compared to last years big budget movies the film is the most interesting since many years. Count "Aviator", but please leave out "Pirates" and "Superman"