Very rare it happens that you watch a movie and the essence of it stays into your memories. I bet if you watch this movie, then you won’t forget it for a very long time.
Right from the very first scene you are glued to the screen with a very high curiosity to see as to what happens next. Such remarkable is the screenplay of this fantastic psycho killer story!
The plot of the movie is very simple but the execution isn’t.....
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) was born in an extremely filthy locale off the country side fish market. This is where the film starts and the very first scene shall take your breath away. The superb camera work and the overall feel is enough for nerves to chill. Its here where our protagonist takes birth and experiences his first sense - SMELL.
Jean’s mother discards him as soon as he is born.(Brilliant camera work) Being the 4th child in the family which the family could not defend the mother leaves him on the filthy/pungent place to die. But to her dismay the locales find out a crying child on the floor and due to this cruel act she is hanged.Jean is left alone in this world and was handed over to an orphanage. His life is a living hell and he grew up as a dying slave.
Every body in this world is born with some good and gifted qualities and so is our protagonist. He is born with a tremendous power to smell. He could smell water, roses, tadpoles, butterflies etc and literally anything under the Sun...despite being miles away from them. Every scene where he smells and feels the scent of anything is captured brilliantly. You actually feel the same way as if you too are smelling something great. He developed this habbit of remembering all type of different smells as many as he could and always tried to smell out something new. This habbit turned into passion and this passion into psyche! From the hells of slavery under coal merchants his destiny drew him to smell the most purest form of the Universe - A woman! And things remained no longer the same thereon.
That mesmerizing scent of a female was rooted so deep into his heart that he wanted to have it again and at will. The problem was that he could remember the smell but could not store it. His restlessness is brilliantly seen in such scenes where he is unable to regain the smell again. (One of the best scenes – just great).
Storing of a scent is an art and the Perfumist are the one who are best at it. Jean’s life took a huge turn when he landed up with a city perfumist who taught him the art of storing scent.... Psyche meets purpose! What he does to get what he wants is a brutal act and is beyond the barriers of humanity. His journey of making the best ever perfume by pushing every limit wtihout any regrets or pain is eventually the plot of the movie. (Did I took too long to get you here? I am sorry if I did so, since I was carried away by the overall the movie and am just flowing with it – WOW what a feel!)
Ben Whishaw as Jean has acted so well that you would just live up a whole movie with him. All the characters in the movie, the sets, the background scores and especially the screenplay is just top class. The director has just done a fantastic job to keep things pretty much tight and to the point. Never in the movie would you lose interest or feel out of focus. Must say that editors too have done a superb job to keep the story line clean and precise.
The best part of the movie is that yet the protagonist is acting as a psycho who is only after his adventure of making the best ever perfume, yet you will feel sympathy for him for sure. Even though you see the inhuman acts throughout, you may not feel sorry for it either! Its like the effect of the perfume just passes out to you from your screen and binds you with it.
The last 15-20 minutes ( I wonder how they must have put up that massive show) are just too much to bear. The protagonist has achieved what he is after and he experiments it! Just watch out for what he does and how he does it and what are the effects....Just remarkable experience.
Ben Whishaw no matter how big actor he might become in his career but people will remember him as Jean in this movie...... Kudos!
I could write a whole lot of details of the movie ( I am trying hard to pull myself to not to reveal anything more) but leave it for you to experience it.
Its one such great piece of art that I bet after watching it, whenever you use a perfume you would surely recall this movie.
Thanks for reading the review and requesting you to punch in your comments .
Enjoy