A taciturn main character, smell as the leitmotif - how do you turn the story into an exciting onscreen drama? In 2006, Tom Tykwer took the risk with a film adaptation.Īctors rest during the filming, which took place in Munich, Barcelona and Provence, France to the tune of 60 million euros (around $70 million) in 2005 But for a long time the book was considered unfilmable. The film industry had a good nose for a bestseller that could be adapted into a hit film. Perhaps the success of the book also feeds a bit on the mysterious aura of its creator. Süskind is as fleeting as the fragrance his hero Grenouille seeks to preserve. He gives no interviews, no insight into his work or his private life. Perfume has since become an international bestseller that has sold millions of copies and has been translated into dozens of languages - including Latin.Īnd yet the book's celebrated author consistently eludes the media hype. Süskind faced one rejection after another until Zurich-based Diogenes Verlag published the book in 1985.
While it was a brilliant idea to place the most fleeting of all sensory impressions in the center of a story, not all publishers initially saw it that way. There was only one thing that power could not do: it could not make him able to smell himself and thus never know who he was, to hell with it, with the world, with himself, with his perfume," wrote Süskind.īritish actor Ben Whishaw played Grenouille in the film, and German actress Karoline Herfurth the "mirabelle girl" "He held (.) a power stronger than the power of money or the power of terror or the power of death: the invincible power to command the love of mankind. In time, the crowd storm the scaffold and give him his freedom.
Grenouille, however, uses his unique perfume to put the mob into a fragrance-driven frenzy. The book, which became the greatest literary success in Germany since World War II, ends with an almost orgiastic scene as hundreds turn up to witness the protagonist's execution. He, in turn, did not look at her … keeping his eyes closed tight as he strangled her, for he had only one concern - not to lose the least trace of her scent."ĭozens of other women will fall prey to Grenouille's obsession and murderous meticulousness until he is finally convicted. She did not attempt to cry out, did not budge, did not make the least motion to defend herself. "She was so frozen with terror at the sight of him that he had plenty of time to put his hands to her throat.
Perfume english movie movie#
His first victim is a red-haired "mirabelle" girl.ĭirector Tom Tykwer and producer Bernd Eichinger convinced Süskind to give them the movie rights And for that he begins to kill the young, fragrant women from whose smell the ultimate perfume is to emerge. He wants to compose the perfect perfume to finally become part of the world.
Grenouille wants to create the greatest of all fragrances, an essence that finally makes this inconspicuous outsider smell - and therefore visible. He's an outsider with a unique talent - and a murderous idea. Grenouille can perceive odors from the greatest distance and dissect them into their individual parts. The Parisian orphan boy is punished with an ugly body devoid of its own fragrance - yet he is also blessed with a genius nose. Ironically, Patrick Süskind throws Jean-Baptiste Grenouille into this world of smells. The others must simply come to terms with this stinking effluvia of life. In order not to have to endure the bestial odors, those who can afford it hold a handkerchief with fine perfume to their noses. After his mother is executed as a child murderer, he himself is deported as an orphan into the Paris of the 18th century, a greasy juggernaut where waste and feces clog the streets. With his little fingers, Grenouille claws his way into existence. But she did not anticipate the boy's absolute will to survive.