Perfume: story of a murderer

Don't know about it, but will seek more info. Thanks.

Is the author Patrick Susskind ? If so a feature film has been made of it.

I've seen the film adaptation, starring the amazing Ben Whishaw. It's a gorgeous production and a fascinating story. Utterly implausible/impossible, it's a fantasy story very much worth watching.

What's the name of the film? I don't have patience to go through the books.

The same.

Really enjoyed it too. Lush and lavish, Ben Whishaw is great, so too is Alan Rickman. If you like redheads you'll enjoy it too.

The film is called , surprisingly ," Perfume :The story of a murderer" , it is an fantastic film , wonderful soundtrack too . It was years in the making as it was thought to be totally unfilmable despite being an amazing story , but manages to convey the sense of scent very well , highly recommend it !!

I agree, books set one's fantasy free, whereas movies dictate. I did enjoy the film though. I thought it was technically very well executed.

Ok, I blind bought the perfume as I do with perfumes. lol

Yes, spot on; it is a wonderful story. The protagonist certainly would have made some interesting comments on bn nowadays.

Guess I'll have to blindbuy the book.

Yep. Great book and film. My avatar is a screenshot from the movie.

Not sure about the book but the movie is quite interesting.....the performance of a lifetime for Ben Wishsaw.

I saw the movie and it was not to my taste. I liked the scenes of the perfumery, but did not like the storyline.

I've seen the movie with the same title. Its a great movie with the career best performance by Ben Wishsaw.
Never came across the book but I'll definitely get it if I ever do.

The book is worth reading for sure! A fairy tale, complete with the macabre that is a part of so many fairy tales.

I have the movie, too, but to be honest I thought the book was better. It's been around for several decades so probably your library system has it, if you don't want to buy.

I've had the book for over 10 years, so it isn't a new book. In the film, I felt that Hoffman was a bad choice for Baldini.

As long as the movie isn't a reformulation of the book!

The book is a classic, I read it way back in the 1980s. Truth be told it is really the story of a serial killer trying to discover and create the perfect fragrance. He is born with no natural smell, totally blank.

Very nice, classic book. The movie was just ok, I thought. Too many stars, too many odd accents. Still, the scenes in which he tried to preserve the ladies' scents were quite creepy/sexy lol.


Agree. I like him but not in this. I wished the movie had been more like say The Name of the Rose. Also the accent of Grenouille grated on my ears.

A friend bought me the film as a gift when she found out I was into fragrances. Amazing film. Will be reading the book next. I wonder if the perfume that Jean-Baptiste perfected would have been designer or niche?

I read it as a highschool assignment years ago and found it, frankly, better than the film.

At any rate, partly kidding, partly seriously, I'd actually be interested (not that I have any official info on this so far) if there will ever be released any fragrances, capturing the bewildering variety of both pleasant and unpleasant scents extensively described in this novel.

An enjoyable read indeed. I have yet to watch the film though out of fear it may not live up to the book.

Oh but it is - and dumbed down mercilessly. It would have taken Kubrick to translate this highly philosophical meditation into film (somewhere between Barry Lyndon and Shining).

sent from a mobile device - please excuse any swelling mistakes

Ok well here's to the power of BN - watched the movie today after reading this thread!

I don't doubt that the book would be better than the film, but not having read the book, the movie was quite entertaining. One of the final scenes, when he wafts his handkerchief to the crowd was a bit silly, and I'm sure the book version would have made it somewhat less silly.

What a cool concept though - to be able to capture the scent of the one you love and preserve it - I like to think that killing them would make it a bit skanky - so let's keep everything alive then! Gosh when I get settled in my next relationship........

^^^^ spoiler alert
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I read it and also watched the movie twice. Actually, I enjoyed the movie more than the book, which is very unusual.

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Thierry Mugler came up with a limited edition of the fragrances described in the movie. And I remember that I read an article on this, and people who went to see the movie at the cinema were given blotters sprayed with the fragrances so they can sniff them during the movie.

Yes Luca Turin talks about that fragrance series that was created. He even gives one of them five stars.

I enjoyed the book in the original German. Really, a terrific novel. Apparently it's a huge book over there, everyone reads it in high school and stuff. Which is weird to me, since it's about a terrible, sociopathic killer. Then again, their childrens' books are more violent than American action films. And don't get me started on the Grimms.

I thought the movie was excellent too. And you're right about redheads . . . that Italian actress in the beginning is exquisite. Not to mention the little yellow plums.

Love the book (and pretty much everything else by Patrick Süskind - unfortunately the rest of his work doesn't seem to have travelled very far out of Europe and he seems to have vanished since). Not so keen about the reformulation movie.

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Struwwelpeter! Nobody does children's books like they do anymore.

I didn't like the book but it is very, very good. Susskind takes us into Grenouille's intensely disturbed personality and, helped by the theme of perfume, the effect is by turns cloying, jarring and claustrophobic, exactly as it should be.

The film is a bit silly.

Ha my friends in Austria used to call me that because I had big wavy hair.

I watched it yesterday and I liked it.

A great film indeed.

PS: What could be that scent?

It was the scent of human death.

I don't agree with ^^ scent of human death.

How can death smell lead to a mass orgy and a pope getting laid?

Also, as shown, death wasn't the relevant objective, he killed in order to avoid less co-operative victims.

Refer to the scene when Giuseppe Baldini was explaining about the most amazing perfume ever smelled in the Egyptian tombs.

"Now pay attention to what I tell you. Just like a musical chord, a perfume chord contains four essences, or notes, carefully selected for their harmonic affinity. Each perfume contains three chords: the head, the heart and the base, necessitating 12 notes in all. The head chord contains the first impression, lasting a few minutes before giving way to the heart chord, the theme of the perfume, lasting several hours. Finally, the base chord, the trail of the perfume lasting several days. Mind you, the Egyptians believed that one can only create a truly original perfume by adding an extra note, one final essence that will ring out and dominate the others. Legend had it that an amphora was once found in a pharaoh's tomb, and when it was opened, a perfume was released, after all those thousands of years, a perfume of such subtle beauty, and yet such power, that for one single moment every person on earth believed they were in paradise. 12 essences could be identified, but the 13th, the vital one, could never be determined."

He said every accord was identified except for one. The one that wasnt known was the scent of ancient death. Also, why would Jean-Babtiste put the dead girls in the distillation tanks? He was trying to capture the scent of the first girl he killed on accident. That was his 13th note. The smell isnt the decay of a human body, its the scent of death. Its explained pretty clearly if you pay attention to the clues given to you by the story teller.

The actual perfume he created was probably Aventus with his signature 13th note added.