Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Lounge
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I’m sure a few of you are familiar with this novel.

I had read it god - a long long time ago - maybe middle school or high school, a couple of times?

In any case i just picked it up a few days ago and decided to read it again - and it’s really a whole different book, now that I know about pheromones. It makes me wonder how much Suskind knows about pheros. He’s not far off the mark in some aspects. And one chapter reads like a hit report.

Fascinating book. But imo - not about perfume so much as it’s about pheromones.

perfume: history of murderer
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hi nunya - yes agreed. you might search the archives for an old thread here about the movie.

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I read that at an impressionable age too, Nunya. I remember I was a vword young teen (maybe pre-teen) at the time and was blown away by the idea that my scent might drive people mad. The guy in that book was a total anti hero, basically a scent vampire. Can’t remember how it ended exactly, but am I making things up if I say there was an ewordthat turned into an oword here followed by crazed cword? Holy taboofest. Haven’t seen the movie, but I can’t imagine they kept all that in there. Thanks and rep to you for reminding me of that book!:slight_smile: editing in a sec

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I read that at an impressionable age too, Nunya. I remember I was a virginal young teen (maybe pre-teen) at the time and was blown away by the idea that my scent might drive people mad. The guy in that book was a total anti hero, basically a scent vampire. Can’t remember everything exactly, but am I making things up if I say there was murder in there and an execution and an orgy and cannibalism? Holy taboofest. Haven’t seen the movie, but I can’t imagine they could have all that in there. If they did–consider me verrrry intrigued.:wink:

Thanks and rep to you for reminding me of that book!:slight_smile:

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I didn’t know there was a movie. I can’t imagine it translating so well.

Kitten - yes exactly! the guy was born with no personal scent but a great nose. And he goes on a mission to bottle “pretty girl” smell so that the world will love him, because he doesn’t exist to most people because he doesn’t smell human.

I don’t remember the orgy and the cannibalism, but I’m only about halfway thru now.

also kitten - if you want a twisted movie - that’s got nothing to do with pheromones - check out Myra Breckenridge - I just watched that the other day, and I’m still wondering what just happened.

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It is different. Nowhere near as graphic as the novel. Some crucial omissions. Grenouille’s childhood is given the H-Wood gloss-over. And Dustin Hoffman… what an odd choice for Baldini.

But I think it’s definitely worth seeing, especially if you have read the book.

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dustin hoffman is baldini? how interesting. I’ll have to hunt it down.

how did they convey how important smell is to this story?

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Lots of close-ups of Grenouille’s nostrils flaring!

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lol! carrie are you serious?!

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Oh yes! It doesn’t work, of course. It’s very hard to evoke an olfactory experience through sight and sound - but they tried.

See the 2nd to last paragraph:

Eye for Film : From Book to Film

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mmm…it makes the movie sound not so appealing. I tend to get quite disappointed with movie adaptations tho. And this is a tough subject to tackle, mainly because so much of Grenouille’s character arc, if you will, is so mental, and more about his psyche and internal world than anything else. You would have no choice but 3rd person voiceover and/or soliloqy to really get him across. altho cinematography-wise the screenshots from IMDB look very visually rich. I’ll have to look for it on cable or dvd or something and see it for myself.