Perfume leaves a strange sensation after watching it.
Perfume (2006, dir. Tom Tykwer)
Perfume is a story of a child named Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) who is 'gifted' with a super human sense of smell. Set in a corrupt and nihilistic eighteenth Century Paris the protagonist's gift turns stale as he tries to capture a scent that will last forever. He believes that scent will come from beautiful women that he kills one by one to obtain and preserve their smell.
To create a film about the senses and particularly the sense of smell is a difficult feat for cinema. Director, Tom Tykwer, deftly overcomes the obstacle by bombarding the audience with conflicting sounds. The squelch of fish guts, bursting juices of fruit and dripping of liquid are magnified to convey the depth and richness of Grenouille's gift. The audience cannot smell the stench of the city he inhabits, but the sound, editing and mise-en-scene almost convince you that you can breathe in the disgusting aroma.
Frank Griebe's cinematography uncomfortably invades every square inch available. Characters have the camera zooming in on them, searching their entire frame like the audience is the protagonist trying to hunt out a fresh smell. The camera work highlights the blemishes not usually seen as if exposing the true nature of the characters. It complements the strange inability Grenouille has in understanding social boundaries, most notably displayed when he grabs the hand of a beautiful stranger and sniffs her hand trying to take in her scent. The camera is like the murdering protagonist and unable to restrain itself.
Despite the invasive cinematography and rich sound editing, the film leaves you feeling under whelmed. A film about the senses should leave you feeling like your senses have been overwhelmed, but that is not the case. The filmmaker carries the audience through the journey of Grenouille the murderer, following his birth, childhood and demise, but in spite of how (literally) close we are to the killer, we never really get close to him. It seems paradoxical, but the character development is rather lacking. The film never gets to the heart of the strange figure that needs to kill.
The strength of films about killers is that they manage to take you into the mind of a character you do not want to know. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is a fine example of the fact as we grow to admire Hannibal Lecter, even though all rationality screams the opposite. Perfume ends though with you feeling slightly indifferent to the tragic figure we should love or hate. The power of films about killers is that they never leave you feeling indifferent.
A strong supporting cast (Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, John Hurt) provide solid performances, but still fail to enchant us. Perfume is a wonderful example of how to bombard the senses through film, but it is unable to utilise the power of character in an essentially character driven film.
