Perfume, Tom Tykwer_________
Why do I feel so passionate and so protective about Perfume: The Story of a Murderer? I honestly can't trace all the reasons but I can tell you that I reacted to it on a visceral, extremely deep level—a rare event for one who watches movies for a living. For me, it was one of those great movie occurrences that rarely happens and continues to keep me enthralled with the medium itself. It's the one movie I've been advising friends to see unencumbered by the trailer, which reveals too much ( as most of them do ) , and unsullied by reviews like this one ( which shall go on to praise the film to the skies ) or others that have already tossed it in the cinematic trash bin. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer may not have been the best movie of 2006 but for me, it was hands down the best movie experience of 2006 ( and yes, I think there's a difference ) .
The film, based on the 1985 European publishing sensation by Patrick Süskind, has been brought to the screen by German-based director-writer-composer Tom Tykwer, best known in the U.S. for Run Lola Run. Tykwer has solved the book's Catch-22: How to film a story that focuses on a man whose sense of smell is so strong he can pick up the scent of a woman ( and everything else ) from miles away? In Tykwer's hands, the answer is to ramp up the assault on the other senses. So the film is ravishingly photographed, the sets meticulously detailed and the accompanying music score ( which Tykwer co-composed ) hauntingly beautiful.
Set in 19th-century France, the story follows the infamous life and career of the fictional Jean-Baptiste Grenouille ( played by British theatre actor Ben Whishaw ) , who is orphaned soon after being born into extreme poverty in the slums. Growing up, the quiet, watchful Grenouille's extraordinary sense of smell aids in his ability to survive and eventually leads him to the streets of Paris, a heaven on Earth for one with such a large olfactory cavity. All this is graphically presented in either nauseating or delightful detail ( with Tykwer's cinematographer Frank Griebe and set crew also working on all cylinders ) . By chance, on his first night in the odorous mecca, Grenouille ( whose story is relayed in a delicious narration by John Hurt ) encounters the scent of love itself exuding from a pretty street vendor who sells fruit. Circumstances cause Grenouille to lose the girl's scent and desperate to recapture it; he apprentices with a master perfumer ( Dustin Hoffman ) who has lost his ability to come up with something diverting for the nobility.
When that fails, the ingenious Grenouille travels to the heart of perfume-making country where he tries again, in increasingly unorthodox ways, to recreate the aroma of his beloved. This is where the 'murderer' tag comes into the film, which goes into cat-and-mouse territory for a while. ( Alan Rickman playing a nobleman trying to protect his titian haired daughter is a central character in this section. ) The spectacular climax of the film comes when Grenouille's horrifying methods are revealed to the public. This sequence, over-the-top and sensual, startled and delighted me, but its sheer audacity is going to make many audience members, I admit, react in the opposite fashion. Tykwer's music score ( on which he collaborated with Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek ) , which has superbly followed the film's mood, reaches its climax at this moment as well. ( The score is also this year's best. )
Critical and public reaction to the frankly unique Perfume: The Story of a Murderer may not find it ending up with the lingering sweet smell of success but for film sensualists, lovers of all things gothic and the cinematic adventurous, Tom Tykwer's movie, to say the least, is an exotic specimen.
Film Notes:
— We know up front in the documentary Unauthorized and Proud of It that outlaw comic book publisher Todd Loren was murdered in 1992 at the age of 32, but it's not until the film's last 15 minutes that we also learn that Loren was gay and that his murder may have had something to do with his closeted lifestyle. The film touches on Loren's business acumen at a tender age, his questionable business ethics, his fiery character, his sharp-edged humor, and the rock stars whose lives he turned into comic books he published. However, no one notes or attempts to explain at any point in this intermittently entertaining warts-and-all portrait the incongruity of a man who fought hard for First Amendment rights ( so he could publish the unauthorized comics ) yet remained deeply closeted. Jan. 5 and 8 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. www.siskelfilmcenter.org
— The Beales of Grey Gardens, a continuation of the 1976 documentary Grey Gardens, opens this Friday at the Music Box in its Chicago premiere. The film contains all-new material left out of what is surely one of the most offbeat documentaries of all. Grey Gardens is the infamous, fascinating film about eccentric mother and daughter Big Edie and Little Edie ( Beale ) , cousins of Jackie Kennedy who chose to live together in their decaying seaside mansion in abject poverty. The original documentary has also provided inspiration for a musical version that is now a Broadway hit.
— Notes on a Scandal, one of my top 10 LGBT films for 2006, is now playing in Chicago. The film—which tracks the unrequited love of bossy, imperious Barbara ( Judi Dench ) for her fellow prep school teacher Sehba ( Cate Blanchett ) and the ensuing machinations when she discovers an illicit affair between Sheba and a male student—provides Dench with a juicy, acidic role that on the stage would be classed as legendary. It's not much below that on screen.
—On the Downlow, the story of two Latino gang members involved in a secret gay relationship and filmed in Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods, is being released on DVD from Image Entertainment on Tuesday, Jan. 9. The film won raves on the film festival circuit for Chicago-based director Tadeo Garcia.
You can find my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Feedback can be left at the latter Web site.
WCT Film Writer
in Movie
When he was in college, Steve Warren worked on the stage crew. It took him several decades to realize his childhood ambition of being a movie star.
Well, his dream is being realized. After years of working as an extra in major films ( including Striptease and Boycott ) , Warren—who occasionally contributes film-related articles to Windy City Times—will be featured in the movie Psychopathia Sexualis, which will be released on DVD Jan. 9.
Based on Richard von Krafft-Ebing's case studies in the late 19th century, the experimental narrative ( described on IMDB.com as a 'notorious medico-forensic study of sexual perversity' ) was written and directed by Bret Wood in Atlanta, where Warren lives with his partner of 18 years, and Chattanooga. Warren appears in the episodic film's last major segment as Pere Lindstrom, a stern father trying to keep his impressionable daughter ( Veronica Duerr ) away from her lesbian tutor ( Lisa Paulsen ) .