Susan Granger’s review of “Perfume: The Story of Murderer” (Paramount)
Based on Peter Susskind’s best-seller, Tom Tykwer’s bizarre, macabre fantasy about a deadly olfactory obsession is set in the 18th century.
Born into the stench of Paris, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) was abandoned at birth by his mother. After spending his childhood in a grungy orphanage and adolescence working at a filthy tannery, he encounters a renowned perfumer, Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), to whom he demonstrates his extraordinary sense of smell.
Taken on as an apprentice because of his gifted nose, he indulges his quest for the perfect fragrance by becoming a serial killer. His first ‘scent’ victim is a redhead selling plums (Karoline Herfurth). Many others follow when he moves to the town of Grasse, which specializes in ‘enfleurage,’ extracting the essence of flowers. There, he relentlessly pursues the virginal essence of the beautiful daughter (Rachel Hurd-Wood) of a widower merchant (Alan Rickman).
Utilizing a script by Andrew Birkin and Bernd Eichinger, Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”) relies primarily on a plumy narrator (John Hurt) and lush visualization to translate Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s fiendish compulsion which, eventually, overwhelms all other manifestations of his humanity.
In the sinister, almost non-verbal leading role, Ben Whishaw must rely on sniffing to propel the story and Alan Rickman exudes the desperation of a protective father, but Dustin Hoffman is totally unconvincing as the aging mentor.
Frank Griebe’s cinematography and Uli Hanisch’s production design are lavish and authentic – but editor Frank Griebe should have eliminated at least a half hour from the yawn-inducing 145-minute length. And the weird Breughelian conclusion, venturing into the metaphysical realm of magical realism, is simply ludicrous. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a twisted, tortuous 6 – intoxicating but repellent.
