Perfume

Perfume (novel by Patrick Süskind, screenplay by Andrew Birkin/Bernd Eichinger/Tom Tykwer) is a story of a boy, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in eighteenth century Paris. What sets him apart is his incredibly sensitive sense of smell, as well as his own utter lack of scent. He becomes obsessed with smell and eventually comes across the most captivating scent; that of a beautiful young woman. Murdering her to possess her scent, Grenouille's obsession moves to a new level. He becomes driven to trying to capture and preserve this beauty of scent, and to produce the ultimate perfume.

That's the plotline in a few sentences. The film adaptation was good. As with any adaptation, it strayed from the novel in some parts, as well as compressing large sections and glossing over others. That's to be expected, as the lengthy descriptions with the amazingly colourful language is nearly impossible to translate to film without it becoming tedious. Most of the descriptions in the novel, understandably, describe the various smells as Grenouille perceives them. It's a book that's heavy in simile and metaphor use, producing vivid imagery for any that are imagination-inclined.

One character, I felt, wasn't portrayed all that well in the film. The introduction of Giuseppe Baldini, played by Dustin Hoffman, gave the impression of him as a bit of a ridiculous character. His indignation and perceived authority and dignity were a little overplayed; while in the novel, I had the impression that Baldini was a man of past glories and respect, with a sort of a pathetic dignity to which he clings. He's a man of a previous generation and time has moved on without him, leaving him longing for the ways of old. His character in the film was almost comical.

Overall, the film was good. Though it lacked some explanations through the beginning, that's to be expected lest the film become a ten hour affair (Lord of the Rings anyone?). I recommend it. However, I recommend the book more, as it's so much richer. In fact, do both; it's worth it.

That is all.