The Perfume - The Critic criticism: It is one of the most prestigious and most promising mixtures of the movie 2006: The influential and well-known German producer and writer Bernd Eichinger (Elementary, The Fall, Resident Evil) Bandelt with one of the most prominent, German directors to - Tom Tykwer (Heaven, Run "The Princess and the Warrior," Lola). Together they put Patrick Suskind novel "Perfume - The Story of a Murderer" in cinematic images in order and thus the most successful in German novel written since Erich Maria Remarque anti-war story on the Western Front ". The result is a trio of popular literature, which happened to sound brilliant in appearance, the original work has remained true in many features, but still shows a general problem: that the film processing of best-sellers is an interpretation of the original time and that inevitably a lot of content is lost. Sometimes quite fundamental aspects.
Paris in 1738: On a stinking of death and rotting fish market brings a young woman (Birgit Minichmayr) secretly a baby into the world. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), the boy will be named later, is blessed with an extraordinary gift: he has the best nose in France and can sniff out odors millions of miles away. After a tough childhood in the tannery by Grimal (Sam Douglas) take on the aging perfumer Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), who recognizes his talent and sets it as a journeyman. Grenouille thinks he is in heaven. In Baldini's instructions Grenouille learns to extract and preserve scents. But one day he realizes that the methods are limited by his teachers and capture as the scent of a man can not. But exactly what does the young Parfumeurgeselle. So he goes to the city of Grasse, the "Rome of scents", where he hopes to learn the mysterious art of cold absorption, a special technique that you can hold all the smells. Was Jean-Baptiste Quest until then rather aimlessly, he wins on his way to Grasse for him a terrible realization: Everything around it smells, but he himself has no scent, so it is often overlooked. But Jean-Baptiste wants to be loved and therefore decides to create a perfume, can not resist. Its main ingredients for this: the scent of thirteen young, unspoiled and beautiful girl. Also on Laura (Rachel Hurd-Wood), daughter of businessman Antoine Richis (Alan Rickman), it has refrained Grenouille.
film adaptations are always a tricky thing. Cinema audience who have read the book know, of course, the characters, know how they think, how they act and therefore anticipate to see the same happening on the screen. Some movies manage to make the tone of the original, know the most basic elements to extract and less important to mention in passing. Stephen Frears' adaptation of Nick Hornby's bestselling novel "High Fidelity" is such an example. But often enough overlifting producer and director with film reactions of world famous books. Ron Howard's disappointing "The Da Vinci Code - Da Vinci Code" and Oskar Roehler's controversial "elementary particles" are just two of many examples that make it clear that rests on such projects is enormous pressure. "Perfume" by Tom Tykwer is not entirely on the one hand, yet completely the other extreme added. The reasons why the film adaptations between the two extremes lies are many.
The attention to detail that brings the film to light is overwhelming. Meticulous care was taken to give a true picture of Paris in the 18th designing century in which there was no sewage system and ruled extremely unsanitary conditions. To the "dirtiest spot on the dirtiest city in Europe in the 18th recreate century, "the Paris fish market, we went to Barcelona. Here the town, the Barrio Gotic transformed, using dirt and muck buckets units per tube in a realistic chaos. If you look closely, Tykwer's motto is (authenticity and intensity) also seen in the costumes and make-up. Here's the Dirt-look with a painted-face-Average-wiping, the Aufstrubbeln the hair and the deliberate displacement of the clothing was reached. All these efforts are seen in the film, forming a visual treat and the perfect setting for the story.
a splendid impression and the performances of the actors. The relatively unknown Ben Whishaw (Stoned, Layer Cake), the Tykwer at London's Old Vic Theatre has learned to know and could undertake the role of Grenouille, embodies the inner journey and development of the Jean-Baptiste Grenouille from nobody to somebody heart with blood. As it claims the original, his face rarely great passions are to be taken, but by his actions, the heart always clear. The fact that he gets assigned as almost autistic protagonist of the novel shares little speech compensated, he skillfully through expressive acting. Dustin Hoffman (I Heart Huckabees, My wife, her parents and I, The Graduate) as Giuseppe Baldini and Alan Rickman (Snow Cake, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Die Hard) as Antoine Richis once again prove their Hollywood star status. Since Suskind novel gives women little more space than the victim, the proportions of female actors in "Perfume" correspondingly low. But with Rachel Hurd-Wood (An American Haunting, Peter Pan) as Richis daughter Laura and Karoline Herfurth (Another league, girl Girl 2) as the plum girl two actresses have been found to leave, despite their brief appearances lasting impression.
looks towards However, "Perfume" a fundamental dilemma. The world of fragrances can be difficult to get hold of in the cinema (by the way are so far all attempts to establish the olfactory cinema, more than mediocre caliber have been). designed to offset the dark in the film by beautiful tracking shots in the nose holes in it, through aesthetic Macro images of rose petals and advertising similar images with low depth of field of other selected fragrance products. Nice to look alright, but in the book will, yard-long descriptions of various smells is so you do not yet meet. It also interacts with advancing duration of the film is unintentionally funny, when Grenouille's nose again in the headwind holding, only sniffing runs through the picture - sometimes a woman following, sometimes evasive people - and otherwise nothing happens. A little more intervention of the narrator Otto Sander - his supple, yet slightly rough voice fits well with the tone of the film - would have been here sometimes desirable.
Roman connoisseurs will notice it - the film is the book especially at the beginning and end extremely loyal, but is waiting in the middle section with changes. Whether you need to leave their scent in the movie 13 girls for a perfume or as in the book 25 is an adaptation that seems bearable. Less enthusiastic, however, should show all friends of the printed version of the fact that Tykwer, Eichinger, and the third screenwriter Andrew Birkin, Grenouille have attributed to a slightly more friendly role as provided for in the original. In the novel, Grenouille is (the toad) is much more insidious, of hatred against the people described eaten. Like a little devil to set the France's best nose in front. But in the film he is anything but ugly and lame, looks rather pathetic. The image of the tick, blood sucker, which is in the book such a central metaphor in the film is not clear. The spirit of the Enlightenment and its ad absurdum leadership - a key issue in the book - in the film is not made clear. The fact that been described in the novel and orgasmic orgiastic bacchanal in Grasse, thanks to a PM from 12 years not much more than a children's television-enabled mass hug is ... given. However, it creaks a little in this dramatic beams, because the peak becomes much taken in intensity. But a bright spot remains: At the end of the film was the Possibility of an embassy maintained despite post-modern narrative: The journey is the destination.
Bottom Line: "Perfume", without doubt one of the most anticipated movie highlights of this year, is presented with a magnificent look of beautiful pictures and dirty at the same time, leaving the ground for the implementation of a great novel. Content meets the cinematic interpretation of the novel substance the nerve of the story is not completely, often seems like a bit too. A viewing pleasure on the one hand, a slight disappointment for all connoisseurs of the novel, on the other.
