Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006, German/French)

How do you make a movie about the sense of smell? Then again, how do you write a book about same? Patrick Suskind did a pretty excellent job with the novel Perfume, but Tom Twyker stumbles a bit in its adaptation. It’s overlong, which is a shame, considering that Twyker and his screenwriting partners condense the excellent first and second parts of the book to focus more on the less compelling (at least in my opinion) final third, making it much more of a pedestrian murder story. However, the choice must have been something of a bind for the filmmakers, as the last act is certainly the most cinematic part of the story.

Casting Ben Whishaw (pretty much the only thing Brideshead Revisited had going for it) as the sociopathic Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was a smart move, but it’s such a difficult role that he sometimes seems to be doing little more than reacting to the various olfactory set-ups that Twyker runs him through. And Dustin Hoffman as a 18th century Italian perfumer? Really? Who thought that was a good idea? Casting issues aside, Prefume is beautiful to watch, though the sheer grossness of Enlightenment-era Paris never quite gels with all of the gorgeous visuals. Suskind managed a great deal more with words on the page.