brave cinema

if Stanley Kubrick says it is unfilmable, and if the likes of Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese have tried to have a crack at it and walked away, then perhaps conventional wisdom would be that the book in question should not be made into a film.

the book in question is Perfume by Patrick Suskind, and someone called Tom Tykwer decided to have a crack at making it into a film anyway. with headscratching results, i think.

i find it difficult to conceive of a review of this film without making references to what many could see as SPOILERS, so skip a few paragraphs after the poster if you want to avoid things like that. up front, however, i reccomend EXTREME CAUTION in watching the film, as several scenes, in particular with regards to the first 10 minutes or so, are very disturbing indeed - i nearly turned it off. to that effect, the official rating is :

Rated R for aberrant behavior involving nudity, violence, sexuality, and disturbing images.

right, on we go.....




here's the headscratching bit - Perfume is a very good film indeed, but the success of it seems to have very little to do with the novel. and yet it is a relatively faithful adaptation of Suskind's masterpiece. go figure.

the narrative of the novel was striking and intriguing because the protagonist's lack of any scent was crafted into a believable, convincing style of invisibility, evoked by an astonishing piece of literary genius. it is somewhat difficult to have on screen the same character and give him that same edge of invisibility.

and yet it all somehow works, thanks to a clearly gifted visual director and a fantastic ensemble cast performance. Dustin Hoffman gives one of his greatest ever supporting performances, and Alan Rickman actually gets to be an actor again, instead of some mindless parody of himself. and, of course, a big round of applause for the scentless apprentice himself, this Ben Whishaw chap as the lead is brilliant.

LAST OF THE SPOILERS HERE i do raise an eyebrow at the ending, however. it has been many years since i read the novel, and i gave my only copy of it to my chum Carlo. i do not recall it ending quite the same way as portrayed on film, but i cannot be certain. ho hum, it makes little difference as it would strike me as a satisfactory ending to it. SPOILERS FINISHED!!

GRAPHIC WARNING FOR THIS BITthe film opens with two attempts to kill off the protagonist, both within hours of his birth. the second such attempt is deeply disturbing indeed. so disturbing, in fact, that i doubt it will be released in the form i saw in the (ahem) copy that i watched. if you can get past these scenes, and i very nearly did not, it is worth it, but you have been warned.


so, there you have it. three of the greatest, most respected directors in the world (Kubrick of course being the greatest ever anyway) walked away from this project, and in respect of being faithful and loyal to the novel, they were right to do so. Perfume the film is a dislocated suggestion of Perfume the novel, but suffers nothing as a consequence.

i would encourage any serious film fan to watch it, and encourage those curious to see what those great directors walked away from. but i cannot stress the caution required before watching it enough.