Parfyymi - Erään murhaajan tarina

Perfume is a work of art, a parable and an allegory, masterfully wrapped up in a beautiful, spectacularly attractive mainstream package. It is an amazing sensualist film about everthing that a talented person can do and, mainly, create when driven by love. I don’t feel sorry for Grenouille’s single victim; I feel sorry for Grenouille. And I admire him. Tom Tykwer brings perfect balance to the collage of drama, thriller and comedy, the sets are amazing, and the actors – including Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman – fully embody their characters (and that’s not even to mention Ben Whishaw...) and some scenes (the maze, the climax) are exemplary demonstrations of film editing. Perfume reawakened in me a memory of the melancholic student days of Branagh’s Frankenstein. (26.01.2007)

This couldn't have been filmed better! Tom Tykwer took Süskind's seemingly unfilmable story and retold it. Like the author, with his colorful descriptions, the director also uses visual finesse to convey a subliminal sensation that the film medium deprives us of, and which leads the viewer's senses into a state of their own dubious confusion. With this film, there is no point in arguing about the strong implausibility of logic, etc. For the first time since Run Lola Run, Tykwer proves that brilliant craftsmanship can say (almost) everything. (12.03.2007)

Tom Tykwer was not intimidated by the task of making a feature film with an idea, and the script of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer was not afraid of the attractive genre lure of a thriller. If you go watch this film and expect to see a classic bloody story about a murderer, you will probably go home annoyed and semi-suffocated by the descriptive and accentuated visual uniqueness of Perfume. But if you go see Tykwer's work as a film that intoxicates your senses, engages your mind, and, yes, like a fragrant candy on top, sometimes stirs your adrenaline with a little action, then there is no way you will be disappointed. My expectations of the proclaimed attack on the new sense, and a sense hitherto unexplored by film were not high, and that is good. In order evoke olfactory sensations, Tykwer uses well-proven visual (detail and expressive color) and auditory (amplification of certain sensations) means. It works commendably, but after the protracted introduction, the director shifts to a more usual style of storytelling, which is not a bad thing, especially when he works quite well with proven means (for all examples, worth mentioning is the short description of a series of murders that is fast, yet impressive). I really liked the central idea of the frantic pursuit of an ideal, after whose materialization Jean-Baptiste learns that there is only one scent that cannot be obtained: the scent of experience itself. And so Perfume is carried by this universal metaphor of an artistic act, it is carried by excellent actors led by the demonic Ben Whishaw and the sympathetically relaxed Dustin Hoffman. I would not hesitate to call parts of the story about the killer captivating, but on the other hand, it also has unnecessary shots. But his gradation and main idea are excellent, as are its... scents? Let's call it atmosphere. [I never read Süskind's book, so I only evaluate the film as it affected me without intertext overlap.] (27.12.2006)

In some scenes, Tykwer reaches the edge of perfection itself, but it fails to achieve a full set of stars due to a fairly large number of shortcomings. Primarily the middle part which could easily have been cut by about twenty minutes without doing any harm. This attempt at imparting a perfume just by means of a combination of visuals and music didn’t work completely, nor could it. Even so, in many scenes, when Tykwer tries hard, it is emotionally strong and stays in your memory for long after. I also liked the really bizarre closing third of the picture which could easily compete with some of the really big “weirdities" from Asia. I can’t say that Perfume is a great movie, but it is certainly unforgettable, and that means a lot. ♫ OST score: 5/5 (21.04.2022)

A film, where even the closing credits have their specific scent. A scent both intoxicatingly sweet and desperately bitter. The perfume is a masterful and above all complex work, in which Tykwer shocked me with his precision and, above all, rawness. It is rare for me to be hit by such a rough film that matches my taste, but here a pleasantly exceptional success was achieved. It is not difficult to succumb to the magic of the film, with such fascinating editing and perfect musical accompaniment, few can resist. Another key advantage is the main character, who, despite their perversity, is strangely believable and induces almost guilty sympathy. (24.06.2007)

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a film that everyone must form their own opinion about. It cannot be summed up in just one sentence. Tom Tykwer is an interesting director who made a name for himself in the independent film industry and has a very unique style. Here, he had the resources of a large production company, and a decent budget, and created a captivating blockbuster with excellent casting and appropriate special effects and set design. For a significant part of the film, I was convinced that five stars were not enough, because Paris looked more convincing than I could have ever imagined. The filth of the streets literally crawled off the screen, I could smell the sewers and the fish market directly from the individual shots, and the editing and cinematography were so great that they characterized the individual characters within a few moments. The strong story of an individual rejected by society on the outskirts, raised without love and in poverty, yet equipped with extraordinary talent, was very suggestive, and the visual aspect of the film was so excellent that if I had visited that period, I would probably have been disappointed by reality. However, I simply missed the point of the story, and even if I consider it a metaphor, I still couldn't swallow it. The miracle at the execution site simply bothered me, plain and simple. And even though I understand what the screenwriter wanted to say, I would have chosen a completely different ending. So in the end, I only give it three stars and an overall impression of 65%, which is really a shame for such a film. (01.04.2008)

If anyone should have adapted the book "Perfume", it was probably only Tykwer, because a book with such a reputation requires a director of his caliber. It's a slight mindfuck in places, but I think it sufficiently rehabilitates the good aspects of modern German culture. Ben Whishaw is properly disgusting, Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman ensured the general public's attention and Corinna Harfouch and Karoline Herfurth added their inimitable faces to the whole. (05.06.2017)

Tom Tykwer is very inventive and has a head full of ideas, which he throws at the viewer with an unprecedented force, and he managed to adapt “Perfume” to the movie screen as well as possible. If we add great actors and the truly beautiful visuals, the occasional plot gaps and excessive running time can be forgiven. A truly unique story, a truly unique film. (25.05.2008)

Four stars, but a weaker four stars. If it weren't for Hoffman and Rickman, I'd give it a three, especially for the cinematography, which gives you a really unreal feeling of being "right there". I haven't read the book, so I don't know why, but I was bothered by the ending, which was so very bland. Moreover, films in which the viewer is supposed to root for the real asshole (whatever his motives for doing what he does) are always harder for me. (06.11.2009)

With Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Tykwer has taken on one of the most difficult challenges, namely how to portray the sense of smell in an audiovisual way. Especially if that sense of smell drives the plot. And super-especially if the hero of the plot is a silent, ruthless psychopath who destroys young girls for his own fulfillment. And because he fails at this challenge, the film fails too, the entire time. And yet it fails with never-before-seen grandiosity. The ways of depicting the protagonist's abilities here only really work in the case of the vile smell, where the opening fish market, for example, visualizes the disgusting environment with quick cuts and zooms. But when he starts to break bread with the other side of the olfactory spectrum, the film runs into the problem that there aren't really that many universal scents, since everyone has a different idea of what is pleasing and beautiful, and so from the first act onwards we are downright inundated with all manner of flowers, petals, and accentuated colors like a commercial for scented candles. Then when the protagonist uses his sense of smell for a practical purpose, namely to stalk his victims, it comes across as a cool superhero ability again. The problems mentioned above, however, stem from the decision to conceive the novel as a monumental historical fresco, where the viewer can turn away from the unpleasant story and simply enjoy the period setting. Hence all the crowd scenes, the meticulously soiled buildings, the dozens of rotten extras, the hundreds of costumes, the panoramic shots, and the frequent changes of location. But for the plot itself to work, it would have to be perceived in a much more intimate, individual way. After all, we’re talking here about one man's efforts to achieve absolute perfection and beauty through extreme means. The monumental treatment may try to emphasize the universality of such a quest, but in my opinion this is impossible when the subject is a sense as distinctive as that of smell. (18.11.2020)

The first half of the movie is incredibly interesting because even though you can't perceive smells and stench through the screen, it feels like you can. The streets are amazingly dirty and in addition, you have a feeling like you can sense something beautiful along with the main "hero". Unfortunately, it gradually fades away and the actual murder part is not interesting at all. Except for the finale, which is... well, strange, but it goes along with it and you can feel a lot of human essence in it. (27.04.2015)

A real cinematic treat. A gripping story (a bit gritty at times), an amazing soundtrack, and one great human destiny fulfilled. Dustin Hoffman as an aging, formerly successful Parisian perfumer and Alan Rickman as the loving father of his only daughter pass the "baton" midway through the film with great dignity. One of the most original and imaginative efforts of recent times. Let's try to imagine what the whole film would have looked like if Tim Burton had directed instead of Tom Tykwer and Johnny Depp had been given the role of the main character.) (27.04.2009)