Sleepy, Creepy, Dull, and Unsatisfying

MRavenwood

The notion of fragrance being combined with mystery and romance intrigued me, but I was quickly disappointed with this film. It begins with a heavy-handed conveyance of the message that the main character, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, is strangely gifted when it comes to scent. The opening monologue has already told as much, so it is purely a waste of cinematic energy demonstrating this repeatedly in images for the first 15 minutes of the film. Jean-Baptist's obsession with capturing fragrance is like an infatuation, or a conquest; there is no end to it. Once the scent he is looking for is obtained, it becomes a piece in a larger, but fantastically pointless appetite that I frankly didn't develop an interest in at any point. The actual plot of the story finally gets going somewhere in the second act, (but I fell asleep, so I can't be 100% sure). The point is supposed to be that he is working on his masterpiece fragrance. But there's no art to his craft, merely a process that is shown repeatedly that the audience cannot enjoy. The short-comings of the film, mostly have to do with the story and it's tedious repetitive motif. I thought Dustin Hoffman a poor casting choice and did not find his performance convincing. Alan Richman brought to the table everything his thinly conceived character was ever going to provide plot-wise. His skills are used mostly in the resolution to the film, which is is downright silly and abandons a quasi horror-sci-fi vibe and flops right over into surreal fantasy. The movie does not serve to teach or entertain the audience. If you like dark films with ambiguous morality and no sympathetic characters, then this film might work for you. I require a more relatable plot line, and thus found nothing redeeming in the film. It is sort of a Grimm's Fairytale meets Jack the Ripper with a pinch of "Like Water for Chocolate".

score 3/10

MRavenwood 22 March 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1844777/