Perfume - The Story of a Murderer

Aroview: Lush, faithful adaptation of Patrick Suskind’s 1985 novel, with Ben Whishaw as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the gifted ‘nose’ turned psycho-killer who hunts grimy 18th Century Paris and beyond for the ultimate scent.

A pungent tale of obsession and perfection, both Hoffman and Rickman lend weight in key roles, while Whishaw is quietly disturbing as the film’s homicidal perfumer. A magnificent visual interpretation of an ‘un-filmable’ book, this boasts an Old World milieu oozing with filth and opulence (think Jean-Pierre Jeunet does Louis XIV’s France), but carries many incongruous elements as well: namely, a laughable ‘climax’ of orgasmic proportions that sums up dir. Twyker’s failure to coalesce magical realism with the story of a cold, unsympathetic murderer.

more matches…