| Rating: | ★★★★★ |
| Category: | Movies |
| Genre: | Mystery & Suspense |
I was rather intrigued to the movie's premise: a man who was born with a keen sharp sense of smell and made his life dedicated to search for the perfect scent for him to be appreciated and for the world to know that he exists.
The story starts when a woman gave birth to a still-born child. She left the baby to die in filthy fish market. The heart of the infant started to beat and he made his first cry. The people there discovered the poor baby and when they saw the mother trying to escape, they had her executed for trying to abandon and kill her own son.
He was named Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, he was sent to an orphanage as an infant and during his early childhood years, the children there began to notice something different about the young boy. When he was sold to a tanner by the headmistress of the orphanage, she was mugged and was later killed by thieves.
Well into his young adulthood, he then knew that he possess a certain gift: a very keen sense of smell. So sharp he can actually locate anything and identify it within miles away.
He later became an apprentice to a perfumer when the latter discovered about his disabilities (the tanner was pushed over by a carriage and drowned by the riverside). The perfumer notices that something's wrong with Jean-Baptiste, he began to experiment with various scents of various objects/ living things even.
When he let go of Jean-Baptiste, he died when his house collapsed.
Jean-Baptiste made it his life's work to make the perfect perfume, the perfect scent, thinking that people would finally notice him, love him, and adore him. He ended up working in a flower plantation in a nearby town outside Paris. There, he began to create havoc, killing 12 virgins possessing each a very essential scent. He kills during the day, he slashes them during the night. Women of no particular social order, they are his victims. The townspeople cannot figure out who is responsible for this monstrosity.
Finally, Jean-Baptise was able to perfect his perfume, the outcome of him killing the daughter of a town official. He was arrested, tortured, interrogated. Asked why he killed all those virgins, his only answer "I needed [them]".
On the day of his execution, he showcased the power of the scent and had his perfume smelled by all the people present for his perfume. They became so fascinated with the scent, it triggered an orgasm that left them (even the bishop) fainted and unconscious.
Jean-Baptiste left the town, the townspeople did not remember what happened but executed Jean's last employer who was found guilty based from the buried clothes and hair locks found in his workplace.
He returned to Paris, realizing that people adore him because of his scent, people loved him because of his scent, people finally noticed him because of his scent and it is the scent, not him, that people craved for. He can never love or be loved for that matter. He return to the place of his birth, the fish market, drowsed himself what was left of his perfume. Nearby people smelled a very beautiful odor coming from Jean, thought he was an angel. Soon, he was mobbed, and later devoured. What was left were nothing but his tattered clothes and his now-empty bottle of perfume.
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Okay, here's my review. After researching about the original novel, I noticed that little was changed for the movie, making it one of the best film adaptations based on a novel. The actors, the cinematography, and the movie itself gave justice to the author's main idea.
It's really fascinating that no matter how weird the circumstances may be, every individual possess a kind of gift that they themselves can only have, in the same way Jean learned about his and the possibilities that he could do with his gift.
Jean-Baptiste may be considered a prodigy, genius who was way ahead of his time yet because he grew in a loveless environment, grew quietly insane for his life mission to be admired.
I noticed that there were a couple of times where there would instances that when killed his first and last victims, he may have felt a sense of attraction (love at first sight?) but because of his very keen sense of smell, it prevented him from showing his true feelings and develop his ability to express love. A pity really. His gift blinded him from the fact that he can never love and be loved if he can never love himself.
He let his gift to take over his well-being than having himself harness his gift in a positive way as he was too afraid, too insecure, and too doubtful to himself. In short he's emo! It took the whisk of a handkerhief filled with his perfume to realize that people are gaga over him because of the scent. Even the macho-looking executioner became gay over his scent! Hahaha!
Because of the impact the movie showed from start to finish, I'll give this one 5 stars!
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