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Average User Score: 7 (36 sources)

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mackski

-1

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A pretty good time-piece movie about a serial killer in France during the 18th century. The film was done with excellent care to detail and the acting was amazing. For someone who has yet to read the book it is based on I was impressed.

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Posted mar 7, 2009 10:44 pm pt

prettyedy

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I loved the look of this movie. I could almost smell 18th century Paris and Grasse.

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Posted jul 17, 2008 6:44 am pt

lolipoper696

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There wasnt much dialogue between the main character and the rest of the characters in the movie, which is in this case suitable for this particular story. We saw pleantly of Jean-Baptise at the start of the movie, but later on, his character...
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There wasnt much dialogue between the main character and the rest of the characters in the movie, which is in this case suitable for this particular story. We saw pleantly of Jean-Baptise at the start of the movie, but later on, his character seemed to just dissolve in the perfume, and we never really saw HIM. Until the end of the movie that is. I saw that as a down side to the movie, but some might say its a good thing; basically illustrating how consumed by the perfume he had become. I didnt read the book, but the movie was very impressive.

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Posted jun 12, 2008 5:25 pm pt

Iconey

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I recently realized, that almost everyone I talked to about the movie, that hasn’t read the book first, considered it to be stupid, boring and daffy. On the other hand, the ones, who had read the book and saw the movie afterwards,...
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I recently realized, that almost everyone I talked to about the movie, that hasn’t read the book first, considered it to be stupid, boring and daffy. On the other hand, the ones, who had read the book and saw the movie afterwards, including myself, regard this one amongst the finest adaptation of a novel made in long time. Some might consider this a flaw, but in my opinion, the movie possesses the rare ability to broaden the readers experience, instead of plainly having an actor cite and reenact the lines or having the original plot garble beyond recognition. The novel by Patrick Süskind was said to be unable to picturize. It took the producers about 10 years to get Süskind to sell the rights, perhaps because he feared the disfiguration of his work as much as I did. But: Au contraire! The creators did an exceptional job both by sticking to the plot, where it’s necessary, and by assembling a great cast. So everyone, who hasn’t had the pleasure of seeing the movie or reading the book, I strongly recommend to do so. It’s absolutely worth it.

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Posted oct 26, 2007 8:26 pm pt

luluxinhapr

-1

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Weird! This is the Weirdest Movie I've Ever Seen, hands down. Maybe I haven't realized its hidden sense or its deeper message.

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Posted sep 4, 2007 2:19 am pt

mandytjie

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Perfume has long been one of my top ten books. I read it first in 1994 and since then I've read it many times more and recommend it to anyone I can.
I was really excited to see that the book was finally being made into a film. It was,...
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Perfume has long been one of my top ten books. I read it first in 1994 and since then I've read it many times more and recommend it to anyone I can.
I was really excited to see that the book was finally being made into a film. It was, however, a fear of them completely botching it up that prevented me frm seeing it further.
I shouldn't hav worried. This is one of the most beautiful films I have seen in a long time. The music is beautiful and Ben Whishaw's acting is absolutely amazing. I always thought the story showed an exquisite if not bizarre poetry and somehow they managed to catch that on film. Not disappointed at all.

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Posted aug 21, 2007 4:04 am pt

valar20

-1

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I have not read the book, however, I thought the movie was brilliant. It's a very unique idea that comes off well. The acting is great(well, look at the cast) and the movie is dark and sinister to the point of near perfection. I don't know...
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I have not read the book, however, I thought the movie was brilliant. It's a very unique idea that comes off well. The acting is great(well, look at the cast) and the movie is dark and sinister to the point of near perfection. I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that it was extremely funny the whole way through. I wasn't exactly what I expected, I thought that it was going to be a little stranger than that, but, I was not disappointed in the least, I recommend this to anyone.

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Posted aug 20, 2007 10:16 am pt

the1945ghost

-1

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well i havent read the book but i am gonna too i liked the movie if u are expecting another blockbuster horror movie dont watch it coz it aint this kind of movies . i guess the new angle is that it shows the crime form the serial murdere point of...
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well i havent read the book but i am gonna too i liked the movie if u are expecting another blockbuster horror movie dont watch it coz it aint this kind of movies . i guess the new angle is that it shows the crime form the serial murdere point of view not from the victim as usual but it was really interesting

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Posted jul 8, 2007 8:24 am pt

horny_reaper

-1

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I don't know. I walked in the cinema expecting a good murdering romp by a sick, depraved murderer, and got this pile of compost. Sure, the story is nice (capturing scent, affecting people with the right perfume scent-it's cool) but it's more...
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I don't know. I walked in the cinema expecting a good murdering romp by a sick, depraved murderer, and got this pile of compost. Sure, the story is nice (capturing scent, affecting people with the right perfume scent-it's cool) but it's more comedy than profile-of-a-killer. And it's jokes aren't even funny, for that matter. They're the dorky kind of jokes, stuff that you'd expect if the film poster had the film's characters in stupid poses (cf. Accepted, etc.) instead of a woman disintegrating into flower petals. You might like it, but odds are if you haven't read the book, you won't. Like me. Avoid.

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Posted apr 19, 2007 9:04 pm pt

NoOneIsAlone

-1

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It was a good book, and though the film does not really entirely bases or especially gets deep into the aspects of the book, it was still enjoyable watching this film. It was very well done and I must also admit that it was really strong in some...
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It was a good book, and though the film does not really entirely bases or especially gets deep into the aspects of the book, it was still enjoyable watching this film. It was very well done and I must also admit that it was really strong in some aspects. Still, the movie was very interesting and so was the plot. Casting was great.

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Posted apr 7, 2007 4:43 pm pt

• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  100
  This is a dark, dark, dark film, focused on an obsession so complete and lonely it shuts out all other human experience. You may not savor it, but you will not stop watching it, in horror and fascination.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Charlotte Observer
  
  88
  Most horror movies try to show us the man inside the monster, so we'll empathize with his moral dilemmas or feel his suffering. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer shows us a man who is all monster, whose colossal amorality makes him a potential Messiah or menace to humanity.

  by Lawrence Toppman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  83
  Whishaw's oddly charismatic performance makes the despicable Grenouille into an almost sympathetic antihero. The rather astonishing finale will likely have audiences either howling in derision or ardently dissecting afterward. And it must have given the bluenoses at the MPAA fits.

  by Marc Mohan | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  83
  The film is downright repulsive in places, and otherwise pushes the envelope for an art film, but it's a dazzling piece of filmmaking that wins us over with its boldness and artistry.

  by William Arnold | Read Full Review »
• [+] Empire
  
  80
  The odd conclusion renders it somewhat oblique, but Perfume is a feast for the senses.

  by Dan Jolin | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  80
  Tykwer makes of all this murder and madness a concoction of improbable beauty and rare artistry. "Perfume" is not just the finest film of his career but easily one of the past year's most accomplished.

  by Rick Kisonak | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  75
  It is to director Tykwer's credit that, although you never come close to understanding Jean-Baptiste, you don't turn your nose up at him, either.

  by Rene Rodriguez | Read Full Review »
• [+] Premiere
  
  75
  Perfume is sure to annoy as many moviegoers as it entertains, but at least even the naysayers would find it difficult to argue that film is nothing if not a departure from the ordinary.

  by Ethan Alter | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Daily News
  
  75
  This is a crazy, gorgeous, disturbing, darkly comic horror story about an early-18th-century Frenchman born in a Paris fish market without any odor of his own but with a sense of smell that would make a pack of bloodhounds wail with envy.

  by Jack Mathews | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Post
  
  75
  Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, crosses over from thriller into magic realism for a lavishly staged climax that's a bit much.

  by Lou Lumenick | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  75
  Perfume misses some of the subtler base notes of Süskind's creepier, more self-aware original, but Whishaw and Tykwer blend the movie into something quite heady in its own bottle.

  by Lisa Schwarzbaum | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Hollywood Reporter
  
  70
  Long regarded as unfilmable, Patrick Suskind's 1985 novel "Perfume" has finally reached the screen in a blockbuster production that succeeds reasonably well in achieving what many said was beyond the scope of cinema: conveying the world of scent and smell.

  by Bernard Besserglik | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  70
  The seductive, sensory prose of Patrick Suskind's bestseller, "Perfume," reaches the screen with loads of visual panache but only intermittent magic.

  by Derek Elley | Read Full Review »
• [+] Salon.com
  
  70
  A memorable and outrageous movie, but one more likely to be remembered as a massive folly than a whopping success.

  by Andrew O'Hehir | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  63
  Deeply flawed though it may be, Perfume is a challenging motion picture, and one whose impressions are not easily shaken.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »