Pefume: The Story of A Murderer
By Al Kratina
March 7, 2007 - 19:07
2006, USA
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Rachel Hurd-Wood
Directed by: Tom Tykwer
Written by: Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger, Tom Tykwer, Patrick Suskind (novel)
Produced by: Bernd Eichinger
Genres: Drama, Thriller, Period Piece
Release Date: January 5th, 2007
MPAA Rating: Rated R for aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images.
Distributors: Dreamworks SKG
Running Time: 147 minutes
images of what Grenouille is smelling, no matter how much they're cut like
Run Lola Run, are a little too obvious for a director of Tykwer’s talent. Once the movie gets going, however, the narration is abandoned, and the film finds legs as its own entity, standing on its own as a film instead of relying on the text of the novel.
Perfume gradually evolves into a sort of allegorical fantasy, in which the ephemeral quality of scent is a substitute for the nature of beauty, and love. The film is not meant to be taken literally, but unfortunately, but the time that's established, Dustin Hoffman has already ruined its tenuous grip on respectability. As faded perfumer Guiseppe Baldini, his Italian accent is so overwhelmingly bad, even for typage, that it's as if he's constantly playing to the cheap seats in a burlesque show. I kept expecting Can Can girls to come out and swing nipple tassels every time he opened his mouth, and contrasted with Grenouille’s childlike naiveté, it's a jarring inconsistency.
Perfume never really recovers from Hoffman's misstep, despite a poetic ending, some nice flourishes to the visuals and mood, and a strong supporting turn by Alan Rickman. It's a beautiful book, and parts of the movie reflect that beauty, but the parts of it do stink, neither of love nor of dead women.
Rating: 6 on 10
Related Articles:
Review: United States vs. Murder Inc. #6
Review: United States vs. Murder Inc. #5
Review: United States vs. Murder Inc. #4
Review: United States vs. Murder Inc. #3
Review: United States vs. Murder Inc. #2
Review: United States vs. Murder Inc. #1
The Word is Murder book review
Murder on the Orient Express - Movie Tie-In Edition book review
Batman The Murder Machine #1
A Treasury of XXth Century Murder