I hadn’t been to the cinema for a while. One of the reasons being that my dislike of dubbed films severely limits what I can see here in Spain. I have gone into why I don’t like dubbing often enough in the past so if you want to read about Spain’s love affair with my pet hate then click on the link below this entry.
Anyway, the good news is that there’s a cinema complex here in A Coruña which shows some new releases in the original version. This gave me the chance last weekend to go and see Perfume, a film that isn’t released in the UK until after Christmas.
I read the novel by Patrick Süskind over a decade ago and re-read part of it in Spanish earlier this year. I was inspired to do this because I was living in Catalonia when sections of the film were being made there. The scenes supposedly set in the Provence town of Grasse are in fact shot in and around Girona.
The first half hour of the film is full of grotesque images as you might expect in a story about a serial killer but we are spared excessive goriness and the murder scenes are not very graphic as this is a seductive story. Süskind achieves this effect through the richness of his prose, while the film is appropriately narrated by the smooth tones of John Hurt and has a blissful soundtrack that I hope to get hold of.
Perfume is a big budget production and a rich, colourful feast for the eyes. On the whole, director Tom Tykwer makes more than a decent job of representing this evocative and poetic novel on the big screen. But there are a few instances when the film borders on the ridiculous, such as the scene where Baldini the perfumist, played by Dustin Hoffman, inhales a scent so delightful that he is suddenly transported into some sort of Garden of Eden. But I went with that and for two hours I was engrossed in a film that lived up to the book as much as can be expected.
Unfortunately, it all went pear-shaped in the last twenty minutes. Without wishing to give the story away, be prepared for an over the top, naked love-in that seems totally out of place, unconvincing and quite frankly just embarrasing. I’m quite glad I was watching in a dark room.
To be honest, my recollection of the end of the novel is a bit hazy but I am informed that the film is loyal to the original ending. All I can say is that it must have come across better in the book as I didn’t feel betrayed by the novel. In short, two hours of fine viewing spoiled by twenty minutes of nonsense that do not leave this Perfume smelling of roses as you head for the exit.
