Movie Recommendation - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

First released: 2006

Starring: Ben Whishaw, Sam Douglas, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman

Directed by: Tom Tykwer

Based on: The novel of the same name by Patrick Süskind

The fleeting nature of beauty and perfection are the main themes in this is a visually memorable, well-written, and well-acted film. In the end I found it deeply disturbing--mainly because I ended up admiring the main character, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, even as I recognized what he was doing as not only wrong, but pointless.

The movie is about a man named Grenouille (which, as we all know from NCIS, means "frog"), an 18th-century Frenchman who has such a precise and amazing sense of smell that he experiences the world almost entirely by scent. Combine this with extreme social awkwardness and a propensity for anyone who knows him to die suddenly and violently, and let's just say the guy's kind of an odd duck.

Grenouille's ride to Crazytown begins when he catches the most beautiful scent he's ever smelled: a young woman. Thereafter, he becomes obsessed with capturing and preserving people's (young women's, technically) scents forever. To that end, he becomes a journeyman perfumer and seeks to create the perfect scent.

The performances in the film are really good--especially Ben Whishaw, who plays Grenouille. He brings just the right mix of attraction and repulsion to Grenouille's character; I imagine he would also play an excellent Ted Bundy. Alan Rickman is freaking awesome, as always, and even Dustin Hoffman is pretty good. The female actresses mainly stand around looking pretty and hunted.

"But I'm too pretty to live..."

Grenouille's struggle to capture something as fleeting as scent finds many metaphors throughout the movie. The film plays like one of those historical monographs where the life an ordinary person is recreated through the interpretation of historical documents--an interesting point in itself as history can be seen as attempting to do the same thing Grenouille does, capture the essence of a person and preserve it forever. The entire point of Grenouille's life is that he disappears into the ether, leaving behind only fleeting and vague emotions in the people he encountered, if that. Yet his story is written down so it will never be forgotten? This was the most difficult part of the film to reconcile for me.

Visually, I love this movie. It doesn't saturate you with beauty all the time; instead, most of the movie is very dark and monochromatic, so that when the important scenes come up--full of gorgeous, bright, saturated color--you remember them like they've been burned into your retinas.

The movie also reminded me of an episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations I watched last week. Bourdain went to Tokyo, where he asked every chef he encountered, "Is perfection possible?" Like scent, food is a fleeting, temporary experience. All the chefs Bourdain talked to said, no, perfection isn't possible to achieve, although they all strive for it. Grenouille too strives for perfection in his art; but unlike the chefs on No Reservations, he doesn't think it's impossible. When Grenouille first apprentices himself to the parfumier Giuseppe Baldini, Baldini tells him a story about a perfume found in Egypt that was so amazing, for a minute after it was unearthed, everyone in the world thought they were in paradise. This legend (which Grenouille doesn't think is a legend) combines with his obsession to preserve a young woman's beauty and innocence forever, leading him to create a scent that can command the love and admiration of anyone with functioning olfactory glands. Yet this amazing formula comes with a steep price: the destruction of the very thing he's trying to capture, the lives of the young women. Ergo, the film seems to be arguing, perfection leads to death. Perhaps this why the chefs on No Reservationsbelieve they will never, ever be able to achieve perfection, no matter how hard they strive for it; because they know perfection would destroy the reason why they strive for it in the first place: the fleeting moment of connection with another human being.

At least, that's the conclusion Grenouille comes to, too late to save the lives of the beautiful young women of Grasse. In despair, he destroys the perfume he created forever.  Despite the fact that Grenouille gets what's coming to him and then some, it does seem a shame that so much beauty would disappear so quickly and never be experienced again.

#SilentMakersPictures

Tips from a Young Filmmaker

1. Where do you find the resources? (camera, editing, talent)

Quite often when I shoot a film, I do A LOT of borrowing. My school owns a Panasonic VHS Broadcast camera that is usually used for shooting school performances, etc. It’s the same for the editing equipment. My school just has some VERY simple Avid editing stations that they bought on a whim, so I use those. As for talent, it really boils down to whoever I can find. Friends, teachers, etc. The problem here is that these people usually have busy schedule’s, so you end up working on their time. When it comes to things like this, never get discouraged if something doesn’t work out in the way of equipment, talent, etc. If you don’t have the money to buy the equipment, find someone who has what you need and see if their willing to loan or rent it to you. Get it anyway you can, (legally of course..

2. How do you pick locations?

When it comes to locations and sets for films, the same technique as above applies. BORROW, BORROW, BORROW. First check if your living area is good for a shoot, or you or your family owns something that will work. That is the easiest. If you don’t have a location that will work, ask your neighbors, friends, etc. If they don’t, drive around and look for the right place. If you end up finding it, and you don’t know the people who own it, ask them for permission to use the area. More than likely they will with little or no money value attached. If you need a soundstage, you may want to ask the local music venue or performing arts theatre. These places are great, as they come with equipment too. The only problem is that they USUALLY won’t let you use it unless you rent it. And the costs for renting stages is not cheap. But it may be your only choice.

3. How to divide up the crew? (director, cameraman, AD.

This is an easy area for one main reason; you as the film artist will end up doing most or all of everything. On a shoot, you may only have two or three people who actually know what’s going on. The other people are actors, etc. This means that you need to be aware of what’s going on at all times. YOU need to be the lighting engineer, YOU need to be the cameraman, YOU need to be the director. Build up your skills in every aspect of the art.

4. Where do you find actors?

As stated before, use people you know. At this point, don’t worry about acting abilities. Teach your actors on the spot, show them what you know. Just keep going over and over the script if they can’t act out a certain part. They should get it eventually.

5. How much does it cost to produce a 5 or 10 minute video?

Cost all depends on what you want to do. First, check out what you have, and then look at what you need. My philosophy is that if you’re shooting a 5-10 minute video, your expenses should NOT go over $50. Use what you have. If you don’t have it, get creative. Remember, it just needs to look good on camera, it doesn’t matter what it looks like in real life. This applies to everything from wardrobe to props. BORROW, BORROW, BORROW!!

6. Where do you get the money to make your videos?

All the money you use should be out of pocket. Don’t take out a bank loan or anything like that. Like before, GET CREATIVE! Every so often, you may want to find a sponsor if you’re doing a BIG film. Somebody who will pay YOU for displaying or using their product. This may come in very handy, but sponsor contracts often have a lot strings attached. Just don’t spend more money than what you have to.

7. Where can you show your film/video?

Once you are done with your film/video, you want people to see it! This can be done in a few ways. The first and easiest idea is to show a bunch of your friends, and have them spread the word about it. Before you know it, more and more people will be wanting to see your piece of art. Another way to have it shown to the world is to enter it in a traditional media art exhibit, (like paintings, drawings, etc.. You may need to pull a few strings to get it in, but people love to see non-traditional media art mixed in with traditional. And this way, your art get exposed to a whole new range of people.

Another way to get your name out there is the internet. Capture your film on a computer and hand it out all over. Atomfilms.com is a great place to start. They are very stringent on their choices for films, but if you can get in there, you’re going to be exposed twice as fast. If your short film is REALLY good, you may want to look into getting the film on the Sci-Fi channel’s show, Exposure, (http://www.scifi.com/exposure/.. This is VERY hard to get into, but if you do, your phone will be ringing off the hook with new contacts.

Remember, NEVER turn off that camera!