Perfume : The storey of murder

The Film I watched recently Perfume: the storey of murder.Directed by Tom Tykwer(2007) this adaptation of the book by Patrick Suskind. it is a visual feast to the eyes.Starring Ben Wishaw , Dustin Hoffman and one of my personal favourites actors Alan Rickman.Narrated by John Hurt.

The film starts in the 1800s in a dirty Parisian street.This is the first time our senses come alive to the fish market so beautifully visual and ugly enough to turn your stomach.A young woman (Jean-Baptiste Grenouille) mother gives birth to him on the filthy ground.She cuts the cord with same knife she uses for gutting fish, goes back to work and leaves him to die.But the baby does not die and begins to cry alerting all of the people in the market who then murder his mother for the abandonment of the child.Already you get a sense of what is to come that Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is very different in turn this is a a taster of what is to come with his mother being his first victim.

Jean Baptise is then brought to a orphanage but is sold to tannery where he works hard and is treated cruelly.He can smell every thing around him from a rock under muddy water to the hyde on a beast.He finally escapes the cruel life of the tannery and stumbles upon an Italian perfumer called Baldini (Dustin Hoffman) who is not having much business as he has lost his skill as a perfumer.Jean Baptise works with him a through learning his skills to distill and make perfume , Baldini's perfume becomes a success again thanks to Jean Baptiste's amazing sense of smell.Things go well for a while but Baldini cannot give Jean Baptise what he desires most- to make the best perfume in the world. Leaving Baldini he goes to Grenouille.Here Jean Baptise works for a man and woman in the distillery with hundreds of flower petals.With all the equipment he needs Jean Baptise begins his killing spree.His best perfume in the world consists of the scents of women.We first see him kill a prostitute in a very gruesome manner.He covers the body in animal fat to preserve the smell then rolls it in cloth and removes all the hair,then scrapes the animal fat from the dead body and distills it placing it in little bottles ( no for the faint hearted) Dead bodies of women begin to appear in the Grenouille.Antoine ( Alan Rickman) appeals to the people of Grenouille to find the killer as he fears for his own daughter who has become the object of obsession with Jean Baptise. Antoine leaves the town to try and keep his daughter safe but it is all in vain as Jean Baptise finds her and murders her also.This part of the film I find heart breaking and a real hatred for the murderer as Antoine adores his daughter.To keep her save from harm he locks her in her bedroom, but Jean Baptise steals the key and gets in the room.After a bad dream it is morning Antoine goes to the bedroom to find his daughter lying naked and bald murdered on the bed. Jean Baptise has finished his masterpiece just as the guards come for him.Stowing his perfume in his pocket.Crowd gather to see him hung.The guards come to take him from the cell when Jean Baptise places a drop of the perfume on himself.The guards fall at his feet.He walks proudly out to the crowd places a drop of perfume on his handkerchief and waves it round the crowd bask in his amazing scent.The men and women fall at his feet in worship.This goes on for about ten minutes which I feel is a bit long winded and then the people begin removing their clothes and embracing one another!(A cringe worthy part if watching with parents) Jean Baptise is finally complete and returns to the Parisian street where his mother once gave birth to him.He sees some people huddled around a fire and drops all the perfume on himself.The people turn to see him , one woman exclaims 'An Angel It's an Angel' rushing towards him they knock him to the ground and eat him!A very Bizarre end. All in all a truly wonderful film.Beautifully portrayed and yet horrifying a lot of the time.The talent of Ben Whishaw(Jean Baptise) is brilliant and he carries the film all the way through and you can't help but feel some sort of emotion for him as he had a terrible life though no excuse to murder for perfection..Old familiar faces such as Rickman and Hoffman were also welcome in this beautiful yet bizarre film. I could almost smell the perfumes through the screen.John Hurts narration added to the story greatly.The message I think behind the movie is that some Jean Baptise goes through life leaving destruction where ever he goes to achieve what he most desires with no emotion I think we all know a character or will meet some-one like that a one stage or another in life! If you have not yet seen Perfume get watching now its a feast to the senses!