Perfume - film review
My favourite book, Perfume - Patrick Suskind .........made into a film.....an amazing book which works in many languages despite being translated from German.
It is indeed the favourite of many, several people i have introduced it to now count it as such and having difficulty with reading it is the only book i have read more than once and one of few i have ever finished.....
I'm going to make a cut ......mostly for those who haven't read the book ......if you've read the book and i tell you about the film i don't think it will really be a spoiler......however if you plan to see the film and haven't read the book.......try to do that first :)
I'll try to make it pretty short and sweet
Overall a fantastic effort very enjoyable and well orchestrated....the great parts will come after my mini complaints (even though they're not concise they are mini)
some expected disappointment at details left out......shortfalls
no priest guy distrubed by Grenouille's lack of scent 'poo pee doo' ....and no explanation of the wet nurse/orphanage keeper having no sense of smell due to the poker face accident .....significant details in terms of others responses to Grenouille.........and covers why no one seems to notice him sneaking around..........to be fair though this is subtley implied..........
......they made adequate mention of the disasters left in Grenouille's wake (like the collapse of Baldini's establishment but it could have been more clearly implied that it was as if Grenoille had affected their luck/destiny
.....the time in the cave is dumbed down and we have no real sense of how long he was there........no purple heart castle visualisation.....it is only then the make the fuss about his lack of scent....and when he reappears no bit where he makes up a human like smell for himself and tells people he was kidnapped (i think that's what happened?)...........
............i also thought there were 25 girls not 13 but i think there may just be some artistic liscense if that if i'm right and it works well anyway
........Though the chap playing Grenouille does a good job .......he isn't really how i imagined him (or how Chris did for that matter) ......we expected smaller eyes.......uglier (especially the younger Grenouille's)........he's a little too simpery and doesn't show enough disgust for humans............
.........don't think they showed enough of a repugnance in other people or smells
......i seem to remember there was a part where Laura's father (the final girl) as well as responding to Grenouille as if he is his son also takes him home to look after etc? could be wrong but that got skipped............to be fair though the movie was 2 and a half hours (though didn't feel that long) and maybe they felt they really had to skip some.....look forward to buying the dvd and checking for deleted scenes
now all the good parts because it was still excellant ..........the birth scene was perfect just as i imagined.....and more...........overall the whole vibe of the movie .............visually in terms of colour and scenary was obcenely close to how i imagined...........Baldini's shop, Laura's house in Grasse........uh......lots of things...........the way they discribed the presence of scent and Grenouille's high sensitivity to it with visuals and music was fabulous and even the scene where he was meant to go to his death was as i imagined!........also the two main girls were well cast and i enjoyed Hoffman and Rickman in the roles of Baldini and Laura's father.........i don't really need to go into great detail about the good bits..........just wanted to give an overview that on the whole it is a great movie which comes close to doing the book justice.......deffinitely worthwhile to go see