Part erotic killer-thriller, part morbid fairy tale, Tom Tykwer’s new film “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a visual feast that is both oddly captivating and deeply uncomfortable to watch. Based on the 1985 international best seller by Munich writer Patrick Süskind, “Perfume” is the tale of an olfactory genius who becomes obsessed with distilling the scent of virgins in his murderous pursuit to create the perfect perfume. Tykwer (“Run, Lola, Run”) and producer Bernd Eichinger (who wrote the screenplay for last year’s Oscar-nominated drama “Downfall”) combine a lush score with breathtaking sets. But the film falls short in achieving on screen what Süskind did so adroitly on the page: conjuring the world of smells.
Budgeted at more than $60 million–a record for European art-house cinema–“Perfume” is already a runaway hit in Tykwer’s native Germany. It is set for wider release later this month, though Tykwer is aware that the story of a man without morals–and the grotesque scenes of animal slaughter–may not be to everyone’s taste. “Some people will be disgusted by it,” he says. “Some will hate it. Then there will be those who will be strangely moved by it. I like my films to inspire debate.”
That seems likely. Orphaned at birth, Grenouille (newcomer Ben Whishaw, in a compelling performance) spends his childhood slaving away in a tannery before stumbling across the fading parfumier Baldini (an offbeat Dustin Hoffman), who enlists him as his apprentice. When Grenouille, who has a highly developed sense of smell, discovers that the scent of the living cannot be bottled, he sets off to the town of Grasse to further his studies. En route he becomes besotted with the vestal aroma of local beauty Laura (Rachel Hurd-Wood). Soon Grenouille turns to mass murder in his quest to capture the world’s most elusive fragrance: love.
Süskind is keeping stumm about the reworking of his best seller. Born in 1949, the author has written a handful of plays and novels, of which “Das Parfum” was by far his biggest hit. It has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide and been translated into 45 languages. For years, directors–including masters of darkness Stanley Kubrick and Tim Burton–sought the film rights, but Süskind refused to bite. Eichinger, however, wouldn’t give up. “The publishing house told me that Patrick didn’t want to sell the rights, not only not to me but not to anybody,” says the producer. “It took him 15 years to change his mind.”
Süskind himself remains an enigmatic character. “He’s like the German equivalent of J. D. Salinger,” says Tykwer, who met the elusive author once, shortly before filming began in 2005. “He shook my hand and wished me good luck. Then he said: ‘Now please, leave me alone’.” Even Eichinger, who has long considered the reclusive writer a good friend, cannot say for sure whether he’s seen the film: “If he has, he was probably sitting at the back of a dark Bavarian theater wearing a wig and glasses!”
Left to their own devices, Tykwer, Eichinger and screenwriter Andrew Birkin (“The Cement Garden”) reworked Süskind’s historical tale into a modernist fable, which will offend hard-core enthusiasts of the book. The film’s second half gets bogged down in confusion before picking up speed once Grenouille arrives in Grasse. Still, Tykwer’s decision to use hundreds of extras instead of special effects–in one epic scene, 750 half-naked bodies are squeezed into a single shot–adds realism. And Tykwer & Co. deserve credit for an extraordinarily ambitious piece of work that gives a whole new perspective to a bottle of Chanel No. 5.
