By Kayvan Kaboli
“Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a strange and unconventional film, a quality that makes judging it difficult. Watching it, thinking about it, and then forming an opinion depends heavily on each individual’s taste, experiences, and personal inclinations. Liking or disliking it is entirely subjective. Reviewing this film cannot simply be reduced to labeling it as good, bad, or average, because the sequence of events within it does not always follow logical patterns. Many film critics who usually agree on most films hold completely opposite views about this one.
The film, released in 2006, was directed by Tom Tykwer and based on the novel of the same name by German author Patrick Süskind. The story is set in 18th-century France and begins with the premature birth of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (played by Ben Whishaw). His mother, a street vendor, gives birth to him behind her fish stall and abandons him among the refuse to die. But the tough little Jean-Baptiste survives, repeatedly brushing against death throughout his childhood in an orphanage.
From the very start, the narrator tells us about Jean-Baptiste’s extraordinary, almost animal-like sense of smell. He can identify and track any scent from kilometers away, a gift that consumes him and turns him into a deeply isolated individual.
Eventually, after many ups and downs, Jean-Baptiste makes his way into the company of Italian master perfumer Baldini (played by Dustin Hoffman) in Paris, who owns a fragrance workshop.
Jean-Baptiste’s life changes dramatically after he commits his first murder by accident. While passing through an alley, he catches the scent of a young, beautiful girl that drives him into a frenzy. Overcome, he follows her and, while restraining her to smell her scent more closely, accidentally strangles her. He then discovers that the girl’s lifeless body no longer carries the fragrance she had while alive—and he cannot preserve it. In Paris, Jean-Baptiste also realizes another disturbing fact: his own body has no scent. He interprets this as the root of his loneliness and alienation.
Despite Baldini’s promises to teach him how to preserve scents—and even though Jean-Baptiste makes his master enormously wealthy with his innate talent for creating perfumes—he leaves Paris. He heads to Grasse, in the south of France, which Baldini described as the capital of perfume-making. Baldini had explained that a true perfume is created by blending twelve distinct scents, and with the discovery of a mythical thirteenth essence, one might achieve the ultimate fragrance. But Baldini cannot capture the true essence of people or objects in perfume. In exchange for Jean-Baptiste creating one hundred extraordinary fragrances, Baldini provides him with official identity papers.
In southern France, Jean-Baptiste’s experiments take a sinister turn. In pursuit of the supreme, final fragrance, he murders twelve beautiful, sweet-smelling young women, distilling their essence into liquid form. The thirteenth and final scent he seeks belongs to the daughter of Antoine Richis (played by Alan Rickman), a wealthy local nobleman. Terrified by the string of murders, the townspeople adopt drastic measures to capture the killer. Sensing danger, Richis flees with his daughter to a remote location, but Jean-Baptiste, guided by his uncanny sense of smell, tracks them down.
Up to this point, despite its unusual rises and falls, the film largely follows a conventional storyline. What makes it truly distinctive, however, is the series of final scenes, where the narrative takes an abrupt and bizarre turn, breaking its own internal logic. This twist captivates some viewers while repulsing others. The ultimate fragrance Jean-Baptiste creates has such overwhelming power that it enchants everyone around him, even Jean-Baptiste himself—who has always longed to be loved. Yet, as everyone else dissolves into a frenzy of ecstasy, he remains as lonely as ever.
As noted at the outset, some prominent critics have praised the film, while others have dismissed it as a waste of time. After watching it, you too will discover which side you belong to.
