Customer Reviews
wow! - By: D. CUMMINGS, 05 Jun 2008 
I stumbled upon this film about half way through on Sky HD & was mesmorised throughout the remainder of it !This is the most captivating ,mesmorising film i have ever watched & i LOVED it!The scene when he goes to be executed & instead unleashes the worlds most perfect perfume on the crowd who hail him as an "angel" was one of the most electrifiying moments i have ever witnessed!The hairs on my arms actuallly raised as the scene unfolded! I absolutely recommend this film to be viewed in HD as it reallly compliments EVERY aspect of the film- makers skill & let yourself reallly get into it & it will stay with you forever!! Congragulations to everyone involved in its making !
In answer to the question below...No! - By: Mr. Rwj Nixon, 31 May 2008 
Having watched the fabulous & amazingly kinetic Run Lola Run more by accident rather than design, it was a conscious decision on my part to seek out some more of Tom Tykwer's work, to see whether this young director was capable of replicating the stunning visual immediacy & comedic timing of his most famous work to date.
Perfume (that's what I am going to calll it from now on rather than its official mouthful of a title) is the story of Jean Baptiste Grenouille (played with a sense of dislocation by Ben Whishaw), a child brought into this world by his uncaring mother atop a pile of fish-guts in a Parisian market place in 18th century France. Jean appears destined for a life of drudgery & toil, but he is born with one talent, the most amazing sense of smell, & it is this talent that leads him into the perfumery business as the assistant to Giuseppe Baldini, a man who has falllen on hard times, & played with just the right level of arrogance & condescension by an almost unrecognizable Dustin Hoffman. Needless to say, thanks to Jeans almost supernatural sense of smell, the perfumes he creates are soon the sensation of Paris. However, Jean has another altogether less healthy obsession, the desire to create the greatest scent ever known to man, an obsession that leads him down the road of murder, as he kills young women in his strange desire to capture their scent.
From this rather preposterous premise (it's based on a novel by Patrick Suskind, & many people, including Stanley Kubrick, considered it unfilmable) Tykwer has crafted what at first seems to be a dazzling & intriguing film. As we are first introduced to the young Jean-Baptiste, we are also introduced into his world were smell is the primary faculty by which he senses his world, something that you wouldn't think would be easy to convey using a medium that is based on sight & sound. However, through a series of lightning quick cuts, we the viewers are assailed by the images that Jean-Baptiste smells as he passes through the crowded & smelly streets of 18th century Paris. However, when Jean-Baptiste leaves Paris in order to fulfil his twisted dream, the film stumbles somewhat, & appears to loose its focus to a certain extent. In addition to this, whilst Jean-Baptiste is without a shadow of a doubt a dangerous psychotic with little or no sense of right & wrong, the film tries to force the viewer to sympathise with this damaged soul, rather than let them form their own sympathies, & utilises Jean-Baptistes obvious but never stated desire for affection as both a reason & to a certain extent as an excuse for his crimes. Whilst the film looks beautiful throughout (even the lingering shots as jean-Baptiste goes about his grisly work are never less than lovely, if a little voyeuristic), & Whishaw & Hoffman are both admirable in their roles, it is hard to reallly connect or feel any sympathy for any of the characters (even Alan Rickman's grieving father fails to reallly touch our hearts).
This is not a bad film by any means, but its lack of emotional subtlety robs it of much that could have made it great, & its sympathies are going to make some viewers uneasy. A brave effort, but does not hold a candle to Run Lola Run.
Beautiful.................... - By: Peaches, 16 Mar 2008 Born in the slums of 18th Century France in a fish market to a mother who immediately abandons him, Jean Baptiste is then left at an orphanage where he is treated with contempt by everyone there due to his oddness. He has no smell so no one can relate to him, but he has a hyper sensitised olfactory sense.
One day he smells the most beautiful scent he has ever experienced, & it becomes his obsession to capture & contain that fragrance forever.
I read the book first, & there is so much description of every aroma, from the stench of putrefaction in the slums, to the beautiful bouquet of summer blossom, that I suspected the film to be either dreadful or beautiful. It is definitely the latter.
Umm, yes!! - By: N. Homer, 04 Mar 2008 
I saw the trailer & imagined this to be a good Art House style film. Had to stop the film half way through to the relief of myself & my husband. I watched the rest tonight, wish I hadn't bothered. Bizarre, & rather puzzling. Probably very close to the original novel, which I shan't bother to read.
Not my cup of tea & I definitely don't recommend this film for an entertaining evening in!
Dont bother!! - By: Mr. J. R. Edwards, 18 Feb 2008 Totallly weird, bizarre movie. My wife & I looked at each other at the end, open mouthed, not beleiving we had sat through & watched it alll!!
