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review: perfume – the story of a murderer (2006)
By vrtualme | September 15, 2007
An old friend of mine, whose opinion I respect, told me this was the best movie to be released in years. Ummmm… ok? Not to say that Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) wasn’t good, it actually is quite good. But I’ll hold back on calling it “the best.” Perfume is based on the bestselling novel Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind. And it’s the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), a man with an amazing sense of smell and a deadly obsession with capturing the perfect scent. Stanley Kubrick 
(Oscar winner for 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968) claimed the book was unfilmable; and several directors including Tim Burton (Oscar nominee for Corpse Bride 2005), Ridley Scott (three time Oscar nominee for Black Hawk Down 2001, Gladiator 2000 and Thelma & Louise 1991), Milos Forman (two time Oscar winner for Amadeus 1984 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1975) and Martin Scorsese 
(seven time Oscar nominee and winner for The Departed 2006) have all been attached to the project at some point. But it was director Tom Tykwer (Lola rennt aka Run, Lola, Run 1998) who finally brought it to the big screen. Creating what is considered to be the most expensive film to ever come out of Germany. No worries though, on understanding the actors, it was filmed in English. The official website is pretty standard.