This film is the most unique, special and imaginative story I've seen so far. It is a story about perfume, and the legendary life of Jean-Baptiste, an olfactory genius.
Jean-Baptiste is born in a smelly fish market. He grows up in an orphanage till he is 8 years old and is sold to a tanner to work. It's a dog's life, but Jean-Baptiste survives. He is born with a special skill: he can recognize everything from its smell and he enjoys smelling. I think his nose is even more sensitive than a police dog's.
Jean-Baptiste becomes a perfume maker thanks to his specialty. The world is made up of thousands of smells for him. He wants to keep the smells forever, especially the aromas of beautiful girls. He hikes to the south of France and learns how to make perfume for several years. He obsesses over smell. He is a freak. Finally he makes the greatest perfume in the world with 13 girls' bodies and lives.
Like the scene in the beginning of the movie, Jean-Baptiste should be put to death. However, the ending of the story is very dramatic! He opens his perfume in the execution ground, and suddenly everyone in attendance admires the smell and Jean-Baptiste. I feel this is a kind of irony of human nature and society.
Jean-Baptiste's perfume conquers the world, but it cannot free him. The ending shows him and his perfume being devoured in the place where he was born.
I think death is the best solution to get real freedom for Jean-Baptiste. Only perfume and smelling are in his world, no love and no beloved. Jean-Baptiste is a tragic character. It looks like an exaggerated story. In fact, it is an interpretation of love and hate.
Jean-Baptiste is born in a smelly fish market. He grows up in an orphanage till he is 8 years old and is sold to a tanner to work. It's a dog's life, but Jean-Baptiste survives. He is born with a special skill: he can recognize everything from its smell and he enjoys smelling. I think his nose is even more sensitive than a police dog's.
Jean-Baptiste becomes a perfume maker thanks to his specialty. The world is made up of thousands of smells for him. He wants to keep the smells forever, especially the aromas of beautiful girls. He hikes to the south of France and learns how to make perfume for several years. He obsesses over smell. He is a freak. Finally he makes the greatest perfume in the world with 13 girls' bodies and lives.
Like the scene in the beginning of the movie, Jean-Baptiste should be put to death. However, the ending of the story is very dramatic! He opens his perfume in the execution ground, and suddenly everyone in attendance admires the smell and Jean-Baptiste. I feel this is a kind of irony of human nature and society.
Jean-Baptiste's perfume conquers the world, but it cannot free him. The ending shows him and his perfume being devoured in the place where he was born.
I think death is the best solution to get real freedom for Jean-Baptiste. Only perfume and smelling are in his world, no love and no beloved. Jean-Baptiste is a tragic character. It looks like an exaggerated story. In fact, it is an interpretation of love and hate.