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This a fictional, quasi-historical film beginning with the hero's hanging, then an outdoor fish market close-up birth scene where his evil mother drops him newborn into the mud and abandons him. For this Mom is hung and he is placed in an orphanage that makes Fagin's look inviting (his new brethren try to smother the baby). He is some sort of idiot-savant whose talent is being able to identify any odor. Next young Osmond is off to Paris where he catches a whiff of his first lady-love, who he runs down and strangles, and strips her while sniffing the corpse. There are lots more naked corpses (I think 12), the magic number he needs to scrape their odor-essences into a single potion that, when a drop is hoisted aloft on a handkerchief, causes the whole town instantly to disrobe and begin an orgy that makes Woodstock look sedate. The photography, both gross and beautiful, is very good. The music is excellent. The acting and direction are top-notch. But, to quote Luther as he debated Erasmus, the content is dung borne in a silver vessel. What is most disturbing is that the packaging has seduced anyone, other than Charles Manson and his girls, into thinking this movie is either Art or Romantic. Females under 18 rate this movie the highest (8.2); same with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (9.4). Why would young women want to see women like themselves murdered by a psychopath? Am I the only one who sees a problem here?
score 1/10
swensond-1 26 August 2007
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1718957/ |
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29-11-2019 16:32:58