{"id":36499,"date":"2016-11-27T19:05:05","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T03:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=36499"},"modified":"2016-11-27T19:08:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T03:08:00","slug":"challenge-week-45-perfume-the-story-of-a-murderer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-45-perfume-the-story-of-a-murderer\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 45: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s get the obvious out of the way upfront. This movie is gorgeous. Even when what’s on the screen is dirt and filth (like much of the beginning, set in the poorest areas of a French fishing village), it’s beautifully lit, shot, and framed. The music, too, is a high point, bringing an epic feel to what is actually a fairly repugnant story. I should expect nothing less from Tom Tykwer, whose films are consistently full of beauty and use music very well, from this classic-esque score to the pumping techno of Run Lola Run<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The story involves Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a child abandoned at birth by his mother but survived the orphanage despite being an outcast for his weird superpowered smell. An encounter with a beautiful redhead led Grenouille to make it his life’s mission to capture and preserve women’s scent, which he finally learns to do through a process that involves…killing them.<\/p>\n

\"tf-laura\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There are a lot of intriguing ideas here (it’s based on a novel by Patrick Süskind), and the concept in general didn’t offend me, as I feared it might. Grenouille is a psychopath, but one with an unusual and interesting focus. I really liked a lot of aspects of the film, but I couldn’t quite love it. The last third of the story just went a little too far for me, and didn’t give me enough preparation or enough of a connection to Grenouille to go along with it. <\/p>\n

Let me clarify – one thing the film did very well was find a way to visually depict smells, which aren’t visual at all, but you FELT LIKE you were smelling the things Grenouille was. However, Grenouille is such an obsessive, single-minded figure that he comes off a little one-note – this isn’t Ben Whishaw’s fault, by the way, I thought he was very effective with what he was given, but he’s just a blank slate most of the time except for this need to recover a single olfactory experience.<\/p>\n

\"tf-mountains\"<\/p>\n

As a whole, the film, especially the last half hour or so, just felt like a whole lot of false profundity – portentous without any real depth or point. I find this combination of very effective filmmaking with a story I ultimately found shallow and somewhat off-putting to be very difficult to rank. Depending on how it survives in my memory, it could move around quite a bit.<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

2006, USA<\/em>
\ndirected by Tom Tykwer, written by Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger, Tom Tykwer<\/em>
\nstarring Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Alan Rickman<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how Perfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > Silk Stockings
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer < X2<\/b>
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer < Village of the Damned<\/b>
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > Berbarian Sound Studio
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > Splendor in the Grass
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > Spider-Man 2
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer < Boy<\/b>
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > Stolen Kisses
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer < The Desert Song<\/b>
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > Lambchops
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > Sneakers
\nPerfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/b> > The Bad Intentions<\/p>\n

Final #1434 out of 3721 (62%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #3 Tom Tykwer film (#4 if you include Cloud Atlas<\/em>), my #3 Ben Whishaw film (he’s not listed on Flickchart for Cloud Atlas<\/em>), my #6 Dustin Hoffman film, my #9 Alan Rickman film, my #12 Serial Killer film, and my #29 film of 2006.<\/p>\n

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer<\/em> was recommended by Nathan Chase, a friend and co-founder of Flickchart.com. Averaging together this #1434 ranking with my #988 ranking of his other film, Triangle<\/em>, gives Nathan an average ranking of 1211.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-baby\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-plum-girl\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-deadredhead\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-laura-smell\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-perfume-tutorial\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-mixing\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-measuring\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-mountains\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-flower-factory\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-flowers\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-celebration\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-rickman-daughter\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-chains\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-adoration\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-final\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s get the obvious out of the way upfront. This movie is gorgeous. Even when what’s on the screen is dirt and filth (like much of the beginning, set in the poorest areas of a French fishing village), it’s beautifully lit, shot, and framed. The music, too, is a high point, bringing an epic feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3260,3259,3261,3258,800],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-perfume.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":960,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/fb100-95-run-lola-run\/","url_meta":{"origin":36499,"position":0},"title":"FB100: #95 – Run Lola Run","author":"Jandy","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is part of a project to watch the Film Bloggers' 100 Favorite Non-English Films. See my progress here. Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) Germany 1998; dir: Tom Tykwer starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bliebtreu screened 1\/28\/08, DVD \"I wish I was a heartbeat that never comes to rest.\" Previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25038,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/50dmc-16-scariest-movie-ive-seen\/","url_meta":{"origin":36499,"position":1},"title":"50DMC #16: Scariest Movie I’ve Seen","author":"Jandy","date":"July 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What's the scariest movie you've ever seen? Spoilers There aren't too many horror films I've seen, actually, though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/What-Lies-Beneath.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36129,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/challenge-week-28-i-confess\/","url_meta":{"origin":36499,"position":2},"title":"Challenge Week 28: I Confess","author":"Jandy","date":"July 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's pretty well-known among my friends and acquaintances that I'm a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan, so assigning me a Hitchcock film I hadn't seen was a kind of a gimme. This, I believe, was one of two American Hitchcock films I hadn't seen (now the only remaining American one is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/tf-feat3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36496,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-44-the-color-of-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":36499,"position":3},"title":"Challenge Week 44: The Color of Money","author":"Jandy","date":"November 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's honestly been so long since I've seen The Hustler that I don't remember the details all that well, but I don't think it really mattered going into this much-later sequel. Now Fast Eddie Felson (Newman) is retired from the pool circuit, instead doing very well as a liquor salesman.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-the-color-of-money.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35505,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/2016-challenge-debrief\/","url_meta":{"origin":36499,"position":4},"title":"2016 Challenge Debrief","author":"Jandy","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's been almost three months since my year-long movie challenge officially completed, and it's taken me that long to decompress, rerank everything, and generally get ready to post a recap of the year. The short version: it was awesome! I watched a ton of movies I really liked, very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/crop-400-Blows-watching.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36655,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/challenge-week-51-joe-versus-the-volcano\/","url_meta":{"origin":36499,"position":5},"title":"Challenge Week 51: Joe Versus the Volcano","author":"Jandy","date":"January 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"What a goofy, weird little comedy. When my cousins were deciding what films to give me, Kevin scoffed at this suggestion from his wife, a movie she has a soft spot for and he apparently thinks is trash. Heh. I'd been meaning to see it for a while as I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/tf-feat-joevsvolcano.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}