Plot Summary for
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) ****
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of eighteenth century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world’s finest perfumes. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.
based on the book (which I liked a lot)
Amazon.com: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Books: Patrick Suskind
I’ve been waiting for this release for a long time. I found the subject repulsive when I first read it years ago - then I reread it after I started making perfumes and found a whole new level to appreciate.
Pheroquirk, you are a hero - I will love you forever…
About 4 months ago I met this really incredible girl, we hit it off immediately and got into a really interesting conversation she is amazing, Just 18 years old and she has packed everything up and moved from her home and family in Germany to London to pursue her dream of writing a novel in English (a 2nd language), she was witty, sharp, funny, beautiful…anyway, our conversation turned to literature and I admitted being largely ignorant to non anglo/american books and asked her to tell me about her european favorite.
She described one of her favorite boks as being French work (you guessed it) Perfume, I was absolutely enthralled as she outlined the plot, the words and emotions she used, the way she spun descriptions of images, sounds, colours, feeling and SMELLS together it was intoxicating (she is very very talented).
So she mentioned that it had been made into a film on the continent and she wished she was back home to watch it. Sensing and opportunity to see her again, (thinking it would be a very small arthouse release) I promised her I would find a showing of it if she would accompany me. She agreed and we swapped numbers…
Well, I spent about 6 weeks searching for this film, ringing cinemas, endless google searches, asking questions of forums etc…and could find no informations.
I must admit I had forgotten about this until you just mentioned it…A quick search and I see it is out now in all the cinemas. HOORAY!!
If anyone is interested I just texted her (out of the blue - we have ahd about 3-4 texts in the last 4 months)
20 seconds later she text back
I’ve heard that the book in its original German is even more amazing! The film has a German producer (Bernd Eichinger, who made The Name of the Rose, and House of the Spirits), an English director (Tom Twyker of Run, Lola, Run) and was filmed primarily in Munich and Spain (hardly any of it was shot in France, interestingly!) The cast includes Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman and Dustin Hoffman. Quite a challenge to film this very odd story! I’ve heard it’s been received well in Europe but early reviews from the States are not so good - which doesn’t surprise (or discourage) me.
Well, its the same writer/director from Run Lola Run. That movie was great!
The movie is pretty good - should be required viewing for phero-manes. (Although, maybe better to read the book after seeing the movie than vice versa). A certain clip from it midway-through captures some of the aspects of A314’s effects rather well 
Glad the link was helpful Gem
Basenotes: Articles > The smell of flesh, life, and death: Perfume - The Coffret of the Senses.
With the newest release of the movie “Perfume, The Story of a Murderer” being released worldwide, it was only a matter of time before two creative Perfumers developed atmospheric odours to replicate Grenouilles’ existence in Paris in the early 1700’s. The coffret, made up of 15 distinct odours and perfumes were created by Christophe Laudamiel and his partner, Christoph Hornetz (International Flavours & Fragrances) who started to experiment with oils about seven years ago as a cultural exploration in perfumery, atmospheres and interpreting Süskind’s imaginings. What they didn’t anticipate, was a meeting with legendary Vera Strübi of Thierry Mugler Parfums, and Peter Friedl, President of Distribution and Marketing for the movie that enabled the Coffret to smell the light of day.
…
A young Frenchman named Christophe Laudamiel was still in perfumery school when he first read Süskind’s book. What struck Laudamiel most was a description of ripe, juicy pale yellow plums and the girl who sells them to Grenouille, the first virgin he murders.
But what also struck him were his own similarities to Grenouille. Tall and painfully thin, the young Laudamiel wasn’t social. He didn’t always feel comfortable with people. He wore a red mohawk. In the novel, when Grenouille retreats to a cave in the middle of France to live the life of a hermit for seven years, Laudamiel understood. The day I become a perfumer, he said to himself, I will do something with this book.
Laudamiel would work on the novel’s scents alone, on his own time, evenings, weekends. No one knew he was doing it. He spent nights in the lab, mixing and remixing to find, say, the exact smell of freshly tanned leather, and would go home at 6 a.m. The first scent he created was Ermite (Hermit), the smell of the cave: damp stone, moss, pine, mountain wind, cold. He created Amour and Psyche, the best-selling perfume that Grenouille copies perfectly from scratch in the novel. Strangest of all, however, was Virgin No. 1, the scent of the girl who sold those yellow plums in the Paris streets. Years ago, an I.F.F. scientist recruited two young female virgins and, with their parents’ permission, recorded their aroma using a polymer needle. Laudamiel found this scent on I.F.F.’s shelves, then added the scents Süskind describes as clinging to the virgin’s skin: apricot, nuts, sea breeze.
Finally, Laudamiel took a deep breath and told Nicolas Mirzayantz, I.F.F.’s group president in charge of fragrances, about what he had been up to.
Mirzayantz was fascinated by one scent in particular, something Laudamiel called Human Existence. It was the scent the scentless Grenouille creates for himself. “You must remember,” Laudamiel says, “this character’s being born without a scent has made him terribly lonely, lost, ignored. Having his own scent makes him whole. It makes him human.”
…
As Strubi and Laudamiel watched the rough-cut scenes of the film together, she came up with a different idea. What if you could create a perfume that would enhance your own unique smell, a perfume that would smell different on you than on anyone else? In other words, your scent identity.
Laudamiel was at once excited and dubious. Technically it was daunting. And they didn’t have much time; Constantin was shooting the movie quickly; they were hurrying to make the premier. He flew back to his lab in New York and started working on this perfume, which they eventually decided to call Aura. It would have to interact with skin. No head, no heart, no base. Perfectly dosed so that before you put it on, it essentially smelled like nothing.
…
“You must remember,” Laudamiel said, “that the worst insult is to be ignored. That those who have no smell are nobody.”
bumping for bronzie.
carrie, thanks! anyone seen this film yet?
EDIT: Possible spoiler ahead:
I saw it last week … it’s very, very weird. If you love atmospheric period pieces and don’t need them to be pretty or “nice,” it’s your movie. I wanted to see it primarily for the perfumery apprenticeship theme, and it satisfies on that score.
The casting was pretty good except for Dustin Hoffman whose style of comedy was misplaced here, and one could quibble with Whishaw for being too goodlooking, but I won’t. 
I enjoyed the film’s take on the psychology of hysteria, denial, and expedience.
Can anyone who’s read the book remind me … doesn’t Grenouille realize that he has no smell (making him not quite real to other people) early in life? The movie relays it differently, which I thought diminished its depiction of Grenouille’s psychology.
Carrie, I love films, I say the word film, because a Movie is not necessarily a film, and have starred in a couple of them in my home country (yes you heard right- the star, main charachter, the film was played in a crowded cinema in my home country and in Europe) this perfume film seems like an adapatation into an art house genre by the sound of things, the french tend to do that, im assuming it has a french conection, i havnt read the details, and probably misses the point of the book, as most adaptations do.
I live at the edge of the world now, literally. For the time bieng, I couldnt see this film on the big screen even if I tried. Thanks for your review.
To be fair, I think the movie intended to be quite faithful to the thrust and sensibility of the book (which I’ve only read in English, though I hear the German is immeasurably better). They had to cut certain episodes which were not really crucial to the central themes, but that’s forgivable.
As I understand it, this is not a French production at all, though it is set in France. It was not even filmed there for the most part. It is a joint German-English production (see first page of posts).
I don’t think this film will suffer much from being seen on DVD rather than the big screen. For me it wouldn’t, anyway.
Are you still involved in film then? (I know you’re an attorney).
carrie i haven’t seen the movie but i planned on reading the book and then seeing it, and i think your 2nd to last post might possibly have been a big spoiler. 
Okay Foo, I’ll edit to warn people, thanks.
Actually I think Dustin Hoffman was good in his part.. I found it hard to like the murderer himself..
Wow - this is awesome! I must read the book and find the movie. Grenouille - lol isnt that frog in french?
ps - just put the movie in my blockbuster queue - cant wait!!! Brilliant
Wow I just referenced this movie in my thread, and here it appears in another forum.
I can’t blame this on coincidence, I blame airborne phero’s from androtics for this memory trigger.
I just watched the last bits and thought ‘pheromones’…
Can I get some of that putative lol ?
OMG. I liked the movie, and the concept. Scarey for phero lovers, BTW. I think the movie came out at the right time when the scent business is taking off.