Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
The perfect scent doesn’t exist…
Presentation:
If you wanted to visually the sensation of scent, this film smells cinematic! A man born with supernatural scent pursuing the ultimate aroma turns dark when attempting to bottle it for perfume. The film is sumptuous in terms of costume, time period, cinematography, and most importantly the women. Although there’s abundant nudity, it somehow feels sanitized by the fantasy tone. The premise is seductively irresistible relying on the assumption that audiences are perverted. If you like obsession films, there is a story of ambition that has its thrills and playful darkness.
Conclusion:
This is a sexy concept, pursuing women for the sake of their scent. Obsession films have this dark allure, namely Black Swan and Whiplash, and this one is thematically similar but romanticizes the pursuit instead. The punchline is obscene but nevertheless enjoyable if you don't take this movie seriously. This film will do better if you go in interpreting it as a folktale or legend. There's a metaphor in here somewhere, but there are liberties and plot holes for the sake of the vision that may leave some disconnect for critical moviegoers. We personally enjoyed this one, but I can see this being a confusing recommendation for narrative lovers.
Recommendations
So slow, you’ll be begging this assassin to kill you…