Perfume: The Story of A Murderer

"Set in 18th century France, the movie follows the journey of a man with superior olfactory sense in creating the world's finest perfume with unusual ingredients which he collected in the most disturbing ways."

Title: PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER

Year: 2006 Directed By: Tom Tykwer Written By: Andrew Birkin, Tom Tykwer, Bernd Eichinger Duration: 2 hours 27 minutes Genre: Thriller, Psychological Crime Starring: Ben Wishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Rachel Hurd-Wood Language: English Score: 9/10

To make it sound easier, this movie is about a man named Jean-Baptiste Grenoiulle who can basically smell everything and started becoming obsessed in capturing smell. It became more and more and at the peak of it, he decided to make the world's best perfume with unusually beautiful and dark ingredients. 

I really don't know whether this movie was big or not back in 2006 because I've only heard of it at least five years after it's released. I decided to watch it out of curiosity of the interesting synopsis. Truthfully, it surpassed my expectations not only about how great it is, but also some other "disturbing" parts I didn't expect. 

I will apologize first about this review because there will be more spoiler alert than usual since it's a little hard for me to explain it without putting any spoiler. But I'll try my best to review as much as I can without spoiler.

WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT?

1. THE OPENING

Even from the start, the movie provides an interesting opening that makes you realize what kind of good movie this is. It's the kind of opening that is not just there to introduce the title, but basically the color and the atmosphere of the whole movie. Right from the start, you'll be interested to know more about this character that is being narrated because of how the movie slipped its fun facts.

2. THE WHOLE PLOT

The fun doesn't stop after the opening. It continues to lure you more and more to pay attention to Jean-Baptiste, the main character who has amazing ability when it comes to using his nose to smell. Knowing he has superior ability in olfactory is already interesting, and what comes after that doesn't disappoint. It continues to introduces new characters in Jean-Baptiste's lives that you want to know more about. And during all that, the spotlight is still on Jean-Baptiste. So, I'd say it's the perfect balance. A simple uniqueness in the interaction between Jean-Baptiste and every other character is also included to make it just a little more interesting. 

(SPOILER ALERT FOR THE NEXT PARAGRAPH, Notes: I don't know if this next part is a spoiler or not because it is mentioned in the trailer and the synopsis I found on Google. But I watched the movie without knowing this part and it makes it a lot better for the element of surprise.)

The main key of the plot is that he discovered an amazing scent and became obsessed with it: the scent of beautiful, young woman. His actions regarding this resulted in an unforgiven and panic-creating crime. <- This synopsis is amazing and the way it evolves along the way only makes it better. I've never seen this kind of crime in movies before so it really is something new and unique. 

3. BEN WISHAW POTRAYING JEAN-BAPTISTE 

He potrayed Jean-Baptiste and I must say he is the perfect actor for this role.This character is meant to be a notorious murderer with a different kind of character than other psychos shown in movie history. Throughout the movie, by following his journey and getting to know his characteristics, you'll somehow understand him. He doesn't talk much, but his actions and gestures are enough. If you're not a psychopath, I believe you'll still think what he did is not right and completely insane, but you can see why he did it. How it was, after all, just his passion and goal of life. You'll see how "innocent" he is because what he did is just something that is in line with his ability and passion. 

(SPOILER ALERT FOR THE NEXT PARAGRAPH)

There was a scene where Jean-Baptiste was in panic because Laura, his most wanted victim was taken far away from the town. The panic in his face is the same panic in our faces when we're late to catch a plane, the same panic when we just remembered we dropped our phone somewhere. At that moment, I somehow frown together with him, feeling sorry he had to lose the most important object for his masterpiece. There was another scene after he was captured and was questioned by Laura's father about why he killed her. His answer is only, "I needed her." And he wasn't wrong at all. He killed her just because he needed her scent to complete the perfume. That's all. If you see it from his point of view, it was just a matter of completing his masterpiece, nothing personal. 

4. THE NARRATION

Unlike most narrations that are somehow unnecessary and disturbing, this one is a perfect fit to the movie. It explains what it has to, in the most perfect timing, and to guide us into knowing Jean-Baptiste more since he doesn't talk much. 

5. THE ENDING

Throughout the movie, I became more and more curious of what will happen when the perfume is complete and when people smell it. And what happened in the end really surpassed my expectations. I don't want to spoil anything, but I gotta say it gives you satisfaction (or maybe leave you dissatisfied).

WHAT'S NOT GOOD ABOUT IT? 

1. HOW IT'S EMOTIONALLY DISTURBING

This movie includes quite some female nudity (also some male nudity), and not in a sexy way. As a woman also, I somehow feel a little disturbed watching those nude scenes which most of the times also include the psycho Jean-Baptiste in it. Again, they're not nude in a sexy way, but a disturbing one. I understand that without the nudity, the movie is kind of incomplete because the more you are disturbed, the more evil and insane Jean-Baptiste looked. And that is kind of the whole point of the movie. 

PLOT HOLES

(SPOILER ALERT) 

How it's so easy for Jean-Baptiste to attack the women, whether in broad daylight or very deserted, quiet, dark alley despite the security being tightened every day. 

WHAT'S SO-SO ABOUT IT?

1. SOME LEFT-UNEXPLAINED SCENES

I put this in this section because I don't think those scenes are to important to be told more, but they linger in my mind after I finish the movie, asking for answers. Maybe providing the answers in the movie wouldn't be very effective as they might shift the center of the movie, but it would be good for the audience so nothing left unanswered. 

I decided to make this movie review despite this movie being "old" (it's released over ten years ago!) because it's always been one of my favorites movie that I don't mind watching more than once. And I'd love it if you guys would be interested to see this masterpiece too. But, be prepared for some disturbing scenes!