Film: Perfume (1/18)

What a very strange very odd film indeed.

I was too tired to do much else, and I was sick of being snowed in all week, and it was the last night it was playing (I'm guessing the reason this only played for two weeks is that not a lot of people who saw it ran off to tell everyone they knew that they just HAD to see this film, or even that they might want to consider it--the full title is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer), and I liked Tom Tykwer's other films well enough for their visual inventiveness and hopeless romanticism (you would know them if you saw Run, Lola, Run, and liked it well enough to then see Winter Sleepers or The Princess and the Warrior or Heaven, as I did), and I couldn't remember the last time I saw Alan Rickman in anything (I just checked imdb--looks like he's been busy working on the Harry Potter films, which I haven't seen because I want to read the books first--Perfume, the novel by Patrick Suskind, was supposed to be quite good, though alas I did not have the pleasure of reading it before seeing the film), and I was wondering what Dustin Hoffman was doing in the middle of the largely Anglo/Euro cast (I still am--I'm wondering if they thought his wavering between all manner of accents was OK because he was playing an Italian living in Paris, as opposed to the French characters, who all had British accents appropriate to their class--and it would be too silly to think they did it just because he was playing a Nose and he has such a distinctive one: "To qualify as a Nose, the prospective candidate must be able to recant all of the elements that comprises the essential elements within a fragrance before the sprayed droplets reach the floor." http://www.theperfumehouse.com/heritage.htm), so I went.

I spent the first two hours wondering what the point of it was. The film begins with the murderer locked up about to be sentenced, and proceeds with lavish epic period (18th century) detail (imdb says it's the most expensive German film ever made--surely they could have afforded a speech coach for Dustin; they had ten people alone listed in the credits as "Dirt Services Crew," presumably to ensure that Paris was adequately authentically filthy) to narrate (thank you John Hurt) the story of his birth and how he comes to be a sociopath and proceeds to murder a number of young women (not bloody or grisly, mind you, just a clean blow to the head, for the most part not depicted, although the naked abandoned corpses as they are discovered are shown) in order that he may fulfill his mission in life to preserve their scent forever and make the world's most intoxicatingly paradisial perfume. And you're just sitting there thinking this is so creepy, and I don't like seeing bodies of dead naked young woman, and so what, what is the story, what is the point, and then suddenly the film just takes off into the land of pure parable--the penultimate scene was so unforgettably delirious (spoiler: picture epic 18th c mob scene on instant ecstasy) it was worth the price of admission alone, and followed by a suitably Faustian ending.

Wikipedia shares with us the following (and also lists appearances of the Faust story in the following media: drama, opera, classical music, popular music, poetry, prose, film, musicals, anime/manga, videogames, comicbooks, nonfiction, and television--not sure it's very surprising how many there are, so much as how many of them one knows--at least in the high culture categories--but doesn't necessarily think of all at once as being related http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faust):

"Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a popular German tale of a pact with the Devil, assumed to be based on the figure of the German magician and alchemist Dr. Johann Georg Faust (approximately 1480–1540).

The story concerns the fate of a learned scholar named Faust, who in his quest for the true essence of life ("was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhaelt"), summons the Devil (represented by Mephistopheles), who offers to serve him as long as Faust lives. Mephistopheles may receive Faust's soul, but only when Faust has attained the zenith of human happiness. In the second Part of the Faust tragedy (Faust 2), Faust really does have the pleasure to experience the latter, however, Mephisto, trying to grab Faust's soul when the protagonist dies, is burnt down by the empowering force of love. Faust deserves to go to heaven, because of his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and understanding ("man must strive and err") that exceeds the limits set for human beings.

The name of "Faust" has since become attached to any number of legendary tales about a charlatan alchemist (some claim "astrologer and necromancer"), whose pride, vanity, and vile hucksterism would inevitably lead to his doom. "

So our Faust here is literally seeking the essence of life through alchemical means, too blinded by his quest (blame it on his troubled childhood) to see that without the life, the essence is for naught, and sadly there is no empowering force of love to save the day (though it would seem more fitting to Tykwer's sensibilities), and Suskind (I assume) chooses instead to end it on a more nihilistic, while at the same time, moral note. The story actually cuts out the deal with the devil part by just having him born with no soul--the trailer voiceover pronounces: "the soul of a being is their scent," something the murderer/perfumer eventually comes to realize he curiously does not have.

I would say that despite my doubts as to where it was all going, I was surprised to look at my watch and see that two hours had passed so quickly (with another twenty minutes to go) without feeling restless, though it starts with the expected stylistic inventiveness before settling into more straightforward narrative--I suppose it helps if you really like perfume (and I do so, as you might imagine with all the Taurus in me), as there is quite a bit of time spent discussing the philosophy and techniques of its creation. Only afterwards did I realize how much this was also a credit to Ben Whishaw's extraordinary breakthrough performance in the lead role--the character is just so odd and unsympathetic and intense that it's really something that he pulls it off so flawlessly when it could have so easily seemed ridiculous. I was curious to see if there's anything else interesting he may have done, but the imdb just lists a number of minor roles including a credit for playing Keith Richards in a film from 2005 that I somehow missed called Stoned--I can totally see it! Something tells me we will be seeing a bit more of him in future, if we're lucky.

Everyone says the book had long been considered unfilmable, because the one of the five senses it engages most with can not be filmed, but this seems silly because a book smells no more than a film, and clearly the imagination fills in the rest. Though I can imagine Tykwer was intrigued by the challenge and he has a lot of fun with it, and I dare say it's doubtful you'll come across anything else with so much cutting on the scent. I can never think of the notion of smells without recalling this passage from Tony Kushner's Angels in America (the ellipses are the text's not mine):

"Louis: Smell is...an incredibly complex and underappreciated physical phenomenon. Inextricably bound up with sex. It is. The nose is really a sexual organ. Smelling. Is desiring. We have five senses, but only two that go beyond the boundaries...of ourselves. When you look at someone, it's just bouncing light, or when you hear them, it's just sound waves, vibrating air, or touch is just nerve endings tingling. Know what a smell is? It's made of the molecules of what you're smelling. Some part of you, where you meet the air, is airborne. (He goes up to Joe, close) Little molecules of Joe...(He inhales deeply) Up my nose. Mmmm...Nice. Try it."

(Just something to think about next time you're riding the bus. Sorry.)

One final note about the film--I was checking out the official website (I know by now you all know that you can get links to official websites, trailers, etc at www.imdb.com) and we're all familiar with merchandising tie-ins, but I have to say I have never seen anything quite so odd. It appears that for $700 you can purchase a limited edition coffret with scents exclusively designed by Thierry Mugler to capture the mood of various moments in the story. Now if you were to visit me and enter the room otherwise known as the Temple of Venus (where I go for hair and makeup), you would see one corner of the counter exclusively devoted to Thierry Mugler perfumes, while the other corner has everyone else's, so Lord knows I only think the highest of Thierry, but really, I'm just not sure what to think of this, although if anyone is at a loss what to get me for my next birthday, I'd be happy to try it out and report back. ("This treasure trove of 15 scents in a beautiful red velvet presentation case reveals the fragrant nature of the book and brings to life key moments and atmospheres from the book and film including: Baby, Paris 1738, Atelier Grimal, Virgin No. 1, Boutique Baldini, Amor & Psyché, Nuit Napolitaine, Ermite, Salon Rouge, Human Existence, Absolu Jasmin, Sea, Noblesse, Orgie and Aura." https://thierrymuglerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TMUSA&Category_Code=TMP)

One final note digressing from the film--all I ever knew about alchemy was that it was about turning lead into gold, but a while ago I picked up a few books from a lovely series called Wooden Books, including one named The Alchemist's Kitchen, Extraordinary Potions & Curious Notions, which includes a number of little instructional appendices including one on incenses and perfumes. The whole book has lots of illustrations reminiscent of the film. I just randomly opened it to this passage: "The individual essence of a plant--its soul--is found in its essential oil." There's also a section titled As Above So Below:

"However pigments and potions are mixed, they will not be truly alchemical unless they are made at the right moments. timing is crucial to maximize planetary resonances, and this requires an understanding of the heavenly movements....Internally the seven [sun, moon, and five visible to the eye] planets represent seven specific modes of the soul that the alchemist must develop to progress in the Great Work, while the Zodiac corresponds to twelve processes that the soul must cyclically endure on the path of return to the Absolute....Tied to this, the vegetable realm, as the most immediately solar-dependent kingdom, flourishes and recedes with the solar year, while the monthly waxing and waning of the Moon controls its juices, drawing the sap to the upper parts and back down to the roots. The herbal alchemist is therefore compelled to heed the injunctions of Parcelsus that he: '...should know the innate nature of the Stars, their complexion and property, as well as a physician understands the nature of a patient, and also the concordance of the Stars, how they stand in relation to...all things that grow and spring from the matrices of the Elements....Medicine is without value if it is not from Heaven.'"

And a little diagram lists the alchemical zodiacal correspondences:
Aries * Calcination * action of fire on minerals in air
Taurus * Congelation * thickening by cooling
Gemini * Fixation * trapping a volatile as a solid or liquid
Cancer * Solution * dissolutions or reactions of substances
Leo * Digestion * prolonged continuous gentle warming
Virgo * Distillation * ascent and descent of a liquid
Libra * Sublimation * ascent and descent of a solid
Scorpio * Separation * isolation of insoluble from soluble
Saggittarius * Ceration * softening hard material
Capricorn * Fermentation * biological animation of a substance
Aquarius * Multiplication * increasing the potency of the Stone
Pisces * Projection * the mysterious action of the Stone

About the books:
"Small Books, Big Ideas
Historically, in all known cultures on Earth, wise men and women studied the four great unchanging liberal arts —numbers, music, geometry and cosmology—and used them to inform the practical and decorative arts like medicine, pottery, agriculture and building. At one time, the metaphysical fields of the liberal arts were considered utterly universal, even placed above physics and religion."

You can check out the series including their lovely cover illustrations at the link below. They're really beautifully designed, recycled paper, and $10 a pop--not sure you could ask for more.
http://www.walkerbooks.com/books/series/index.php?name=woodenbooks

OK, break's over, get back to work!