Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, orphaned as a newborn in the streets of Paris, is alone in the world. A peculiar child who rarely speaks, Grenouille is alienated from others but blessed with a remarkable gift. His sense of smell is so refined, so attuned to every blade of grass and blossoming flower, that it’s tragic when he’s sold into servitude to a tannery at the age of 13 and surrounded by the foul odors that accompany his labor.
But there comes a day when Grenouille runs an errand in town and discovers the object that will transform his life: perfume. Eager to learn the art of creating sophisticated fragrance, he apprentices himself to a once-renowned perfumer, and proves to be a savant whose almost mystical knowledge of scent surpasses anything that can be taught to him by masters of the craft.
Ironically, he was born with no scent of his own, a distinction which colors his undistinguished life. But Grenouille is fearless when it comes to the pursuit of a perfect perfume. When he discovers the most intoxicating scent he has ever experienced – the natural fragrance of a beautiful young girl – he learns that the only method to preserve her innocence and fresh beauty will require murder.
Plaguing the countryside with a series of gruesome killings, Grenouille must stay one step ahead of the authorities until he captures the final ingredient for his greatest perfume – the essence of a beautful redheaded girl whose wealthy father earnestly protects her. Only then, he believes, will he earn the attention and adulation that his extraordinary talent deserves.
Based on the best-selling novel by Patrick Süskind, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a story of a deadly obsession set in 18th-century France.
Bernard Besserglik, The Hollywood Reporter
“...Long regarded as unfilmable, Patrick Suskind's 1985 novel "Perfume" has finally reached the screen in a blockbuster production that succeeds (...) in achieving what many said was beyond the scope of cinema: conveying the world of scent and smell...”
Rick Kisonak, Film Threat
“...The director’s recreation of pre-Revolutionary France is lavishly imaginative, the cinematography is flawless and the score otherworldly...”
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“...Tom Tykwer ("Run, Lola, Run") evokes a medieval world of gross vices, all-pervading stinks and crude appetites (…) It took imagination to tell it, courage to film it, thought to act it, and from the audience it requires a brave curiosity about the peculiarity of obsession…”
Dan Jolin, Empire
“...Perfume is a feast for the senses. Smell it with your eyes...”
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