cryptokoala

IMDb member since September 2007
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Reviews

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
(2006)

Tom Tykwer = Grenouille ???
Just saw the DVD version of Perfume -- loved it. Pay attention to how the fleetingness of scent is linked up to the fleetingness of life in the movie -- these are big themes that are being dealt with: do artists need to suffer to create great art? Is beauty more powerful than death? Are there certain things in life -- such as love, beauty, art -- which rise above morality? Only the movie poses these questions much more subtly than I am. What i thought was very interesting, however, was watching interview with the actors about the film. Quite obviously, Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman *HATED* working with their director, Tom Tykwer, and were forced to compliment him none the less. So you have Dustin Hoffman telling us what a unique experience it is to work with a director who values the input of costume designers as much as that of his actors, and who doesn't need to only control "every second of his film, but every millisecond." Like Kubrik, who thought about doing this same project, Tywker is obviously one of those sadistic-control-freak directors, who will do anything to achieve their artistic vision, no mater how hated they become by their cast and crew. Another actor actually compares Tykwer to Grenouille, who is similarly unwilling to compromise his artistic vision. Looking at the movie in retrospect, Perfume's directorial style does have this cold, calculating, too-perfect quality to it -- I prefer a looser, sloppier style, where errors become doors of opportunity -- but i have to admit that in this case, the style matches the movies message. Just some interesting things to think about.

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