The most primitive sense

Perfume: 

The Story of a Murderer 

(can be found on Netflix)

When my dad first suggested the film Perfume, the last thing I was expecting was a German thriller film. In Dianne Ackerman's Natural History of Senses, we read about Perfumists, who had an incredible sense of smell, and were able to concoct all types of different combinations that created scents people would like to douse their bodies with to project these 'beautiful' scents. 

The main character of the film Perfume is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who has an impeccable sense of smell. The film takes place in 18th Century France, which is where Jean-Baptiste begins his journey to find the 'perfect scent'. During his quest to find this 'perfect scent' we see the various homicides he committed in order to finally accomplish his mission. 

Although we have not directly discussed scent and murder, watching this film, after discussing scent in our Smells & Bells course I was able to appreciate the film differently than I normally would have, and I suggest you all try and do the same, because in fact I think that many of the things we have learned can be applied to many films , not only ones like this that directly focus on perfume.

Jean-Baptiste's life began at a fish market, where he was abandoned by his mother. This was rather interesting to me because we have been discussing the different odors that come from fish, and how powerful they are, but are they good or bad odors? What really struck me was that the cinematography was able to create this image of an 18th century fish market, the narrator discussed this 'stench' but it was the combination of the different images that really allowed me to 'smell' this awful pungent odor. Yet in reality I could not actually smell the odor I could only imagine it, since I was not alive during the 18th century. The images of the fish guts, the chopping, the sliminess all in an outdoors market with tons of people sweating evoked the worst smell imaginable in my mind, a combination of a sweaty NYC subway car in the middle of the summer, filled with fish guts. Can you think of any films or books that were successful in getting you to smell what they were actually describing, and what you were visually seeing?

Throughout the film we see Jean-Baptiste struggling to find the words to describe the many scents that his olfactory system is processing.  "Every day language proved inaccurate" to described the smells his olfactory system was taking in. He was not educated, and although he knew how to speak he was lacking the vocabulary to describe all the many things his nose was picking up. 

We witness Jean-Baptiste learning about his olfactory abilities as he goes through his everyday life at first we see he does not decide what scents to pick up, instead he smells everything. Not only does he smell everything but he has the ability to appreciate all of the scents, not labeling them good or bad, just taking them all in for what they are. 

As the film goes on we see how he wishes to preserve scent, which is his life goal, to preserve various scents, concluding with finding and preserving the 'perfect scent.' Jean-Baptiste becomes rather infatuated with the female scent, eventually leading him to commit his many homicides in the hopes of preserving his 'perfect scent.' 

I do not want to give away the ending of how or if he captures this scent because I hope that this blog intrigued you enough to watch the film, and form your own opinions, about Jean-Baptiste's quest.