Perfume Movie

What an amazing poster isn't it??? I love it.

Anyway, this story is about a young man who grew up being absurdly sensitive towards the sense of smell. A million praises for the director - I really felt like I was looking through the character's eyes, smelling what he smelled. The setting was also very realistic and just absolutely wonderful. I loved each and every character in this movie - they were all so full of personality... even the 800 individual extras. Many details were also thoroughly covered and in one scene, you can notice several things happening and they're all so wonderful.

Probably you're getting sick of me singing praises about this and that. But the point of this blog post, is how after watching the movie, I became very much aware of the things around me. I was sprawled on my bed then, and I started to smell my skin. I also smelled my hair, clothes, bedsheet, pillow... you may think it odd when you read this, but if you've watched the movie, you'll understand.

I think of all our senses, smell is very often overlooked. We think that when we are sitting idly in a room, we smell nothing. But if you really do concentrate, and breathe deeply, you can smell something. I tried it just now, eyes closed. Couldn't really smell anything distinctive at first, but I kept breathing in, and I noticed something mild in the air - that is the scent of wood. It was my table.

And it was as if I had connected with my body more than ever, and I started to sense things consciously. I was aware of the texture of my mattress, the strands of my hair, little sounds... So often, and so used to these things we humans are, we never really think about letting ourselves stop for a moment and feel the little details of our environment. When you really do that, it feels like suddenly, you are... well, solid. And so are all the other objects. And you interact with them - touch them, feel them, hear the different sounds they make - and all of a sudden it becomes quite interesting. It is hard to explain. And you may not feel the same way I do. We are all different after all.

I think it's quite amazing how a single movie can make an audience have a new perspective of the world. The story of one man, let he be fictional, can inspire others so greatly. The movie was adapted from a novel written by Patrick Suskind. It took him 5 years. I wonder how it felt writing that novel, because it seems to me like such a very humane and honest story (although Jean-Baptiste the main character lacked the more humane way of "working", but... his aim in the end is a very natural thing wasn't it?).

I also stumbled to a movie review website thing just now and saw comments on Perfume. Let's just say it wasn't completely on one side. Some people hated it, others like me enjoyed it. I don't know what is there not to like though. A few said it was boring. On the other hand it was completely arresting for me. 2.5hours passed by without a moment of boredom. I was engrossed in all the audiovisual elements, and also the characters.

But then again you might not like it. For me the movies that are on my top list are those with great visual qualities, and a moving, inspiring story. Those that have artistic lead characters are even more interesting. Artists have a different way of thinking after all, that can be quite inspiring.