Extremes and Sensuality in "Perfume"

I used to not like the trailers that preceded a film on DVD, and often fast-forwarded or skipped them entirely.  Over the past year, though, my sentiment has done a reversal.  The trailers, as I see them now, point to films that look intriguing but that I haven't seen, yet.  `Perfume: The Story of a Murderer was fortuitously one of those trailers I saw, which I simply had to watch in full and which thankfully our neighborhood library had available for borrowing (for free, I might add).

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That Jean-Baptiste Grenouille murders women to capture their heavenly but elusive scent is true.  But to pose that tagline `The Story of a Murderer is, I think, to mislead the audience.  Yes, Patrick Süskind pens the title of his 1985 novel as such.  But the real point of this cinematic tour de force is the extremes to which this odd but gifted man went to realize his purpose.  It's a morality story, actually, one that should prompt us to reflect openly, to debate passionately, and to reconcile satisfactorily.  But it should not lead us or sway in any predetermined direction.  At the end of the day, it would've been better for both director and author to leave out the tagline completely.

What makes the film a tour de force is how well director Tom Tykwer prompts us to experience scent, or fragrance, or odor - in all of its sweetest and foulest glory - through a host of other means and senses, except scent itself or our noses.  In other words, a DVD film cannot bring scent into the viewing experience.  At least not literally.  Instead, Tykwer resorts to photography, soundtrack, drama and acting, script and narration, even a full-on orgy at the end, to lend a truly sensuous, at turns erotic, piece of work.  In essence, we appreciate Grenouille's olfactory prowess without smelling a single thing.  

It's an altogether beautiful film.