The scent of a sweet virgin...
Added 1/8/2010
... makes you do funny things. And not so funny things.
What a wonderful surprise to find a work of art about the passions evoked by smell. I've long been a sucker for ladies with that beautiful sweet natural scent that's impossible for perfumes to imitate. It's the scent of love, energy, desire, sensuality. And I know it is real and so powerful you don't even need to see a girl to desire her.
Our protagonist also falls in love with this scent, in fact thanks to his exceptionally good nose, he knows it better and feels it stronger than anybody else. But due to his unfortunate and isolated upbringing, is unaware of how one goes about experiencing this intoxicating pleasure. And experience it he does.
Some say that the book this movie is based on is even better. I don't know, I only just found out there was a book. The movie is a masterpiece on its own. My only reservation is that the last 15 minutes with the mass hysteria didn't do justice to the rest of the film, therefore no full marks. 9 out of 10.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Another Masterwork from Tom Tykwer
Added 1/6/2010
I have, to date, seen three films by Tom Tykwer. Two of them are are masterworks of cinematic art and one of these, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is as great a film as I have ever seen. It is comparable to a statue by Rodin or a painting by Van Gogh or a Bach fugue. It is entirely new -- something never seen or done before; and, even though what it attempts is disturbing and dark and morally ambiguous, it succeeds in doing it in a way which can only be termed, gorgeous and perfect. One never sees a single wheel or gear. One is simply inhaled, like a breath, into the nostrils of the protagonist, lives inside of his dark entrails and continues to do so long after the end credits have rolled. The cast is used to perfection. Ben Whishaw performs a tightrope walk of balancing the audiences reaction between revulsion and empathy and never sways once on the rope. Dustin Hoffman devours his part with a gusto which we have rarely seen from him in recent years and Alan Rickman proves, once again, that he can do anything. The film is narrated brilliantly by John Hurt. Tom Tykwer, Bernd Eichinger, Andrew Birkin and Patrick Süskind turned an "unfilmable" book into a masterful screenplay and Tom Tykwer just moved to the top of my best-director-of-all-times list.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Wasted Opportunity
Added 11/25/2009
Stanley Kubrick owned this property for quite a long time and couldn't make it work. Before Diving Bell and The Butterfly Julian Schnabel was trying to finance Perfume. Scentless Apprentice by Nirvana was inspired by Perfume.
This production is dreary. It is not in keeping with the book which was clear lush High pop. Disintegrating into flower petals?! I saw American Beauty like everybody else. A complete miss.
You have to leave Perfume with some sense of subtlety. The best depiction of scent ever put on film was a cartoon -- that little furry Serge Gainsbourg. The way to crack this book is as an adult animated film. I pictured Peter Lorre or Kurt Raab as Grenouille when I read it.
If Bruno Stroszek were still alive he'd be the perfect choice. Maybe a sloppy, early Paul Morrissey production.
0 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Different movie than the regular Hollywood blockbusters
Added 11/6/2009
I rented 'Perfume' from local library and I really enjoyed watching it. Infact, I'm going to order a copy of DVD add it to my collection.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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This is a great movie,very dark and kind of sad. Good story line you don't know whether to be appalled or feel sorry for the main character...must see!
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The scent of a sweet virgin...
Added 1/8/2010
... makes you do funny things. And not so funny things.
What a wonderful surprise to find a work of art about the passions evoked by smell. I've long been a sucker for ladies with that beautiful sweet natural scent that's impossible for perfumes to imitate. It's the scent of love, energy, desire, sensuality. And I know it is real and so powerful you don't even need to see a girl to desire her.
Our protagonist also falls in love with this scent, in fact thanks to his exceptionally good nose, he knows it better and feels it stronger than anybody else. But due to his unfortunate and isolated upbringing, is unaware of how one goes about experiencing this intoxicating pleasure. And experience it he does.
Some say that the book this movie is based on is even better. I don't know, I only just found out there was a book. The movie is a masterpiece on its own. My only reservation is that the last 15 minutes with the mass hysteria didn't do justice to the rest of the film, therefore no full marks. 9 out of 10.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Another Masterwork from Tom Tykwer
Added 1/6/2010
I have, to date, seen three films by Tom Tykwer. Two of them are are masterworks of cinematic art and one of these, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is as great a film as I have ever seen. It is comparable to a statue by Rodin or a painting by Van Gogh or a Bach fugue. It is entirely new -- something never seen or done before; and, even though what it attempts is disturbing and dark and morally ambiguous, it succeeds in doing it in a way which can only be termed, gorgeous and perfect. One never sees a single wheel or gear. One is simply inhaled, like a breath, into the nostrils of the protagonist, lives inside of his dark entrails and continues to do so long after the end credits have rolled. The cast is used to perfection. Ben Whishaw performs a tightrope walk of balancing the audiences reaction between revulsion and empathy and never sways once on the rope. Dustin Hoffman devours his part with a gusto which we have rarely seen from him in recent years and Alan Rickman proves, once again, that he can do anything. The film is narrated brilliantly by John Hurt. Tom Tykwer, Bernd Eichinger, Andrew Birkin and Patrick Süskind turned an "unfilmable" book into a masterful screenplay and Tom Tykwer just moved to the top of my best-director-of-all-times list.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Wasted Opportunity
Added 11/25/2009
Stanley Kubrick owned this property for quite a long time and couldn't make it work. Before Diving Bell and The Butterfly Julian Schnabel was trying to finance Perfume. Scentless Apprentice by Nirvana was inspired by Perfume.
This production is dreary. It is not in keeping with the book which was clear lush High pop. Disintegrating into flower petals?! I saw American Beauty like everybody else. A complete miss.
You have to leave Perfume with some sense of subtlety. The best depiction of scent ever put on film was a cartoon -- that little furry Serge Gainsbourg. The way to crack this book is as an adult animated film. I pictured Peter Lorre or Kurt Raab as Grenouille when I read it.
If Bruno Stroszek were still alive he'd be the perfect choice. Maybe a sloppy, early Paul Morrissey production.
0 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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