Like many people I came to this movie having been a big fan of the book, and again like many my main question was whether the film could successfully convey sensuality through image and sound as well as Patrick Suskind had done through language. For about the first hour the answer was a resounding yes. The early scenes in the fish market and particularly the first murder were expertly handled. Yet there is a fine line between sensuality and stylisation and as the film developed I felt it was slipping more towards the latter than the former. This culminated in the final few scenes which seemed to disintegrate into the ridiculous and eventually the downright comical. This was a particular pity for the last scene which, with its echos of the Orpheus myth should have been spectacular but was merely slightly grotesque and silly. Still it is worth seeing for those early scenes and for Alan Rickman who's a pleasure to watch as usual.
Review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
