Perfume (or, Too Tired to Write...)

I am going to make this brief because I am very tired (for reasons that will become apparent). Perfume isn't bad. Tom "Run, Lola, Run" Tykwer's film has divided critics pretty effectively but I though it was reasonably inoffensive. A surprisingly comfortable film given the subject matter. It's the time honoured story of young boy born with a miraculously acute sense of smell works, who his way into the perfume business only to get a little too obsessed with capturing the scents of young girly girls. How many times have we heard that before. Actually, it was pretty much the same story as Peter Süskind' s novel, which was also called Perfume.

I actually liked the film a good deal more than the book. I never really went much on Süskind's flowery prose ("oh, it's oh, so evocative!) and Twykner captures the smells, especially early on in the film, with a deftness that made the phenomenon just that little bit more visceral. What I liked about the book was well captured, the high concept and the fable like retelling, the interesting characters and the meticulous insight into the world of perfumery. Ultimately though, I thought the film, like the book, took it all a little too far, go just a little to far into the mythology and overstepped even my ability to suspend belief.

On that topic, the orgy scene (oh, wait a moment - spoilers!!!) was a little to hetero-normative for my liking. Sure there was some hot lesbian action but guys like to watch a bit of that, so I am not surprised it was included. I was surprised that in this day and age there wasn't any man-on-man action. Not that it really mattered in the end. The whole scene was about as sexy as a Spenser Tunnick photo shoot and, in my opinion, undermined the films credibility. I thought - piffle!

Don't worry though, you don't have to sit all the way to the end for the less than perfect moments. Dustin Hoffman is pretty atrocious. He makes a good fist of the role but doesn't seem to know quite what he is doing with his accent. Alan Rickman comes off like a bit of a caricature but that is probably due to the fact that most of his role is subsumed in an all-encompassing (and quite unnecessary) montage.

On the upside, the visuals are spectacular, the main actor is fantastic, as are many of the ill-fated girls. There are some sumptuous visuals and some truly creepy moments.

Even if it doesn't all gel, there is a lot to recommend Perfume so check it out.