Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Director: Tom Tykwer

Cast: Ben Whishaw as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, Francesc Albiol as Court Official, Gonzalo Cunill as Guard 1 Dungeon, Roger Salvany as Guard 2 Dungeon, Andrés Herrera as Door Guard (as Andres Herrera), Simon Chandler as Mayor of Grasse, David Calder as Bishop of Grasse, Richard Felix as Chief Magistrate, Birgit Minichmayr as Grenouille's Mother, Reg Wilson as Customer - Fishmarket, Catherine Boisgontier as Woman - Fishmarket, Núria Casas as Woman 2 - Fishmarket (as Nuria Casas), Carlos Gramaje as Police Lieutenant - Fishmarket, Sian Thomas as Madame Gaillard, Michael Smiley as Porter

To my dismay this movie has been accused of dealing with the addressed
subjects only on the surface and just trying to shock the audience with
extreme imagery. I strongly have to disagree with that. "Das Parfum"
may be a lot of things but shocking sure isn't one of them. Of course
it is visually overwhelming and not only with pictures of pretty
flowers and sounds of the wind softly shaking the trees on a warm
summer night but what is this movie, if not a piece about the
sensuality of the human being? Yes, it is about smells but smelling is
just simply not one of the things you can experience while sitting in a
movie theatre. This motion picture however comes very close to it. We
see close-ups on maggots crawling around and fish getting their heads
chopped of but also human bodies in all their perfection and people
declaring their honest love for one another. It might be impossible to
make the audience fully understand the world in which Jean-Baptiste
Grenouille lives but it does manage to create a similar vibe that
brings us close to what Grenouille "feels" when he smells. Tom Tykwer
beautifully achieves to always put the audience in the right mood, with
the help of an amazing soundtrack and great camera work.

One could criticize that Ben Wishaw is too good looking for the part
but we have to keep in mind that this story is supposed to be about the
character of Grenouille and the way he himself sees his live. Since to
him, the smell is the soul of every being, his appearance does not
matter to him. So we might as well thank Tom Tykwer for casting an
actor who is pretty decent to look at for two and half hours.

Please watch this movie without any prejudices. Open your mind to
images and sounds and try to imagine what your feeling could "smell"
like. And even if that does not work you can still just enjoy a
beautifully told story. Either way, you will be touched.