Air University

BS Psychology
English Comprehension and Composition
Final Project
Topic:
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FILM REVIEW

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Submitted By:
Aniqa Israr (191512)
Aqsa Rehman (191513)
Umar Farooq (191511)
Shahzeb Ali (191538)
Sadia Iftikhar (191531)
Abdullah (191514)

Submitted To:
Mrs. Syeda Alienna Zahra Kazmi

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 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

CONTENT

1. Plot 3
2. Principle Characters 3
3. Language and Style 4
4. Narration Technique 5
5. Genre 5
6. Historical or Topical Value 6
7. Acting 7
8. Sound and Music 7
9. Direction 8

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 ⮚ PLOT:
“Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” is a Fictional Film in which a story of a man who was
bestowed with a unique ability by God is narrated. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw)
came into the world undesirable, expected to die, yet born with an intimidating sense of smell
that created estrangement, as well as aptitude. Out of all the smells surrounding
him, Grenouille  is summoned to the scent of a woman's soul , to get close to her he followed
her and eventually when he got the chance, he saw a couple near him in fear that the girl might
scream and alert them he firmly grabbed her and unknowingly he suffocated her, and she died.
When she died, he realized that her scent started to fade away and from this moment he got
addicted to the scent and started to search a method to make a perfume whose scent could last
forever and never fade and spends the rest of his life attempting to smell her essence again by
becoming a perfumer, and fashioning the quintessence of purity lost. He started his journey
to Grasse where he learned to extract the scent of human beings and for this reason, he murdered
12 young most beautiful girls in the city which created chaos and a feeling of terror in the city,
but he was eventually able to create a perfume which such a strong and pleasant scent that
humanity had never smelled. He was later caught but on the day of execution, he used that
perfume first on the guards who were to take him for the execution. When he used it on them,
they escorted him in a beautiful carriage and when he was brought to the executioner he fell in
his feet and started to say that “he is innocent”. Grenouille when spread the fragrance over the
whole place where some dignitaries and the furious mob was there to see the execution, they
started to say that he is an angle, and they all feel and for a moment they realized that
they were in the haven. Rambling out of Grasse unscathed, Grenouille has abundant perfume to
direct the whole universe but has learnt now that it will cage him from loving or being loved.
Disillusioned by his purposeless quest and tired of his life , he returns to Paris where he was
born and dumps the perfume on his head. Overwhelmed by the fragrance and in the certainty
that Grenouille is an angel, the nearby gathering devours him. The very next day, all that is left
are his wears and the open perfume bottle, from which one Ultimate Drop Of Perfume
Cascades.

⮚ PRINCIPLE CHARACTER:
⮚ Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
Low self-esteem, egotistical tendencies, and insecure personality led him to be a serial
killer. The dehumanization reflected upon him as a growing child, he inflicted same onto
his targets. Despite the fact that from the outset depicted as a weird however thoughtful
character, Grenouille is malevolent and indifference for the suffering of other people, as
proven by his ability to kill more than 12 young ladies for their aroma. His primary
inspiration is he should be loved, however not for emotional reasons. He accepts love is
force, and he needs control and power over everybody.
⮚ Giuseppe Baldini
Baldini is very apprehensive regarding the safeguarding and upholding order, both in the
bigger world and in the more modest universe of molding fragrances in his workshop. He
could be depicted as kind, albeit frequently to his own weakness, yet additionally treats

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 Grenouille as meager in excess of a wellspring of splendid thoughts for scents. He
utilizes Grenouille to save himself from the has-been perfumer he'd become and ascends
to European acclaim with Grenouille's equations; however Grenouille isn't permitted to
get credit or praise for his work.
⮚ Antoine Richis
The loving father of Laure Richis, he is a high-positioning authority in Grasse and an
educated, present day man. He gets on to the force behind Grenouille's chronic homicides
of the young ladies in Grasse and acknowledges Laure should likewise be an objective.
Despite the fact that he's devastated at her demise, when he smells the fragrance
Grenouille makes with her aroma, he is instrumental in saving Grenouille from execution
and requests to embrace him as a child.
⮚ Marquis de La Taillade-Espinasse
The marquis de La Taillade-Espinasse is a buffoonish character who is introduced as a
sort of lighthearted element in the film. He is self-serving and careless in regards to his
own idiocy. The marquis' logical task depends on the possibility that Earth is noxious,
and he accepts he has invented a machine to turn around its harm to people. The marquis
maybe subs for the possibility of Enlightenment thinking, manhandling the logical
technique by utilizing Grenouille to demonstrate his machine works and hence commend
himself. In any case, Grenouille is glad to cooperate to serve his own finishes.
⮚ Laura Richis
Laura Richis is a youthful 16 year old girl, an epitome of beauty with her red hair,
freckles on cheek and fair skin. She was the daughter of Antoine Richis and Grenouille's
last target. Grenouille discover her fragrance to be considerably more inebriating than
any other young lady. Even though her father tried to protect her by organizing her
wedding, Grenouille murders her before the wedding can happen and makes his most
inebriating perfume with her fragrance.

⮚ Language and Style:

A piece of his film uncovers in delight over visual and olfactory encounters, regardless of
on the off chance that they are sensuous or in some cases repellent. Like its hero from the
outset, Tykwer doesn't separate between the charming and the unpleasant; to enjoy a
crude encounter, charming or not, is basic. The grant itself is crucial. Another piece of the
film bridles gruesome topic, which includes Jean-Baptiste's awful killings of a few young
ladies to finish an omnibus of female aromas. Still another part of Tykwer's film
fascinates the watcher in the messy yet-beautiful contrasts present in eighteenth-century
Paris, spoken to with unbelievable detail. Under these simultaneous components, Tykwer
muses on the transportive impact of scents, how they instill themselves into our oblivious
psyche, and connection with our recollections, wants, history, and character. The last part
of the film, which, more than the others referenced up until now, separates it based on
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 what is generally an authentic anecdote about a perfuming executioner, is the way this
story changes into a sort of fantasy, or something closer to legend. This last component
engraves itself in our brains like a life-changing aroma from some time in the past.

Furthermore, the film also successfully and brilliantly represented the life of the rich and
the poor in the 18th century and depicted the way of thinking of the people at that time.
Moreover, it is quite surprising that the central character of the film Grenouille did not
have as many dialogues in the films and he most of the times remained quiet, but his
acting skills and the thrilling sometimes wicked sometimes amazing actions compensated
that, and it does not let the viewer feel that. Finally, the film is also very catchy as it
attracts the attention of the viewers and it creates a feeling of curiosity and suspense
throughout the film that do not let them leave the film in the middle but watch it till the
end.
⮚ NARRATION TECHNIQUE
Element of Flashback to spice the things up where the writer is giving the hints to
viewer about the fate of main character beforehand add the spice to whole Dramatic
event. The film initiates with the condemning of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an infamous
murderer. Between the birth at fish market and the execution, the story of his life is told
in flashback.
The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Süskind has picked the Third Person Narration to
recount the narrative of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. What's more, however Grenouille is the
character at which the story depends on, we are additionally made through the psyches
and moves of different characters through the limitless information on an all-knowing
account voice. By observing and smelling the world through Grenouille's eyes and nose
while simultaneously having it told through a few characters rather than only him, we are
to some degree left withdrew from Grenouille from the earliest starting point, which just
improves the absence of compassion.
The story advances through the Voice-Over Narration of John Hurt, giving the film the
vibe and stream of a tale or an exceptionally deranged sleep time story. Albeit such a
contraption could excessively rearrange the material—and it does at the finale—the
narration really works in the film's kindness. The blending of the fantasy tone of the
voice-over with the profoundly upsetting movement of Grenouille's endeavours to catch
the smell of explicit ladies to make the best scent the world has ever smelt is one of the
film's more grounded focuses.
⮚ GENRE:
“This masterpiece can be viewed as a cross-combination film in which it doesn't
perfectly fit into one taste, yet rather joins gears of enthralled Mystery, Magic
Realism, Horror, and the preposterous, with mystical magical Realism authenticity
and horror maybe highlighting most conspicuously.”

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 Magic Realism is a kind that sets a story in a practical world that contains mystical,
heavenly, or fantastical components. Perfume is set in the conspicuous authentic universe
of eighteenth-century France, and Patrick Süskind addresses a significant number of the
changing social elements of the time in portraying Jean-Baptiste Grenouille's ascent from
a vagrant to a talented expert perfumer. However, Grenouille's character is characterized
by two otherworldly qualities; his bizarre and uncanny feeling of smell and his own
absence of aroma. In mystical authenticity, the peruser is welcome to suspend incredulity
just as to invite uncertainty about a story's message or topic. The class has its foundations
in Latin America during the 1940s and 1950s, yet a considerable lot of its writers were
additionally impacted by the surrealist craftsmanship and composing they experienced
while going in Europe. Süskind utilizes supernatural magic realism in Perfume to make
focuses about the idiocy of the human condition and to bring up issues about the idea of
good and evil and how well we can really know or understand someone else.

The Horror nature goes back to old Greece and Rome when numerous folktales and old
stories included characters who contemplated demise, evil, and the supernatural. In
Perfume Süskind grounds the frightfulness in the Psychological domain, welcoming the
viewer to consider whether Grenouille is a genuinely shrewd character and to
comprehend his thought processes. By turns, the creator makes Grenouille a thoughtful
character and a cruel beast. As a type, Horror is intended to terrify, appal, or shock its
viewer, and Süskind achieves these objectives on nuanced levels. While the killings
Grenouille submits inspire dread and sicken, somehow or another his inclination is much
all the more alarming—even to himself.
⮚ HISTORICAL AND TOPICAL VALUE:
Süskind catches eighteenth-century Paris, France, in the entirety of its tactile—and rank
—detail, and he utilizes the characters to uncover changing jobs and strains in the public
eye during a period of social change. Paris in the eighteenth century was the second-
biggest city in Europe and home to a wide range of classes among its almost 600,000
individuals. Until the French Revolution (1789–99), the city's social chain of importance
was very inflexible, fixated on since quite a while ago held traditions and conventions. Of
its particular classes, respectability was at the top, while specialists and manual laborers,
for example, Perfume's Jean-Baptiste Grenouille—were nearer to the base. So, it was the
time of hunger and thirst for power and dominance which describes the character
behavior and normal human psyche of getting more and more and still not being satisfied
enough.
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Grenouille and his addiction to scents which grew stronger and stronger over the time
are shown as a symbol. It shows man’s addiction towards the power, addiction to gain
influence and fame, addiction to look beautiful from others, addiction to gather wealth
which grows stronger and stronger overtime.

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 When man do not have a thing of which he desires the most he has a strong tendency to
get it he thinks that by achieving that thing he will be satisfied but when it is achieved, he
moves towards the better thing and in this way, he gets addicted and started to move from
one thing to another better thing, but the amount of satisfaction and its duration become
shorter and shorter and he feels empty. To prevent this human should give some part of
the thing they own or the power or abilities they must benefit others because when he is
selfish then he develops this addiction.
Another way to look at this story is that many people in this world have some unique
ability but among them few people recognize those abilities and among them rarely a
fraction of people come forward and let the world know about their abilities either in a
good or bad way. If those unique abilities are used in a good way, then it benefits the
whole humanity and name of these people are always remembered studied and taught. If
those abilities are used for evil purposes, then the whole humanity suffers from them and
names of such people are remembered as humiliation and they are studied and taught so
that such kind of personalities can be avoided to exist. The people who know that they
can use their abilities to benefit the mankind they should use them up to full potential and
die empty as Todd Henry have penned in his book
“Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day”.
⮚ ACTING
Androgynous, malleable, sensitive are the few charismas that may describe the acting
attributes of the actors of the perfume.
”Ben Whishaw is considered as one of the most celebrated stage actors of this time;
his passion card is a soulful delicateness, all faun-like demeanor and saucer eyes,
with a teenager’s wild mop mane.”
Along with the main lead other supporting characters are also utterly fascinating and
susceptible, yet smart ones who will figure everything out. The actors have more appeal
and life behind their eyes, and not just an alluring face deprived of a lot of depth.
⮚ MUSIC AND SOUND
“The entire aura and charisma of the movie has been built upon the soundtrack,
with music and sound so well intertwined.”
Sound design is often treasured in movies that fashion a lot of noise, but it seems like the
perfume director Mr. Tykwer is a big admirer of the quiet movies which is evident
throughout the events in the film even his character doesn’t speaks the much only their
actions do. The melodic score for Perfume was formed by Tykwer and two of his
companions Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil. The score was performed by the Berlin
Philharmonic and State ensemble Latvija under the bearing of conductor Simon Rattle.
Tykwer started making the score with Klimek and Heil the very day he began chipping
away at the screenplay Tykwer stated,

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"I feel like I understand very much about the structure and the motivations of the
characters when I'm writing the script, but I really do understand the atmosphere and
the emotional and the more abstract part of the film when I'm investigating the music,
and when I'm planning the music for it. ... When I then come to the shooting, having
worked for three years on the music and three years on the script, I really feel like I
know exactly the two worlds and how to combine them."

When it came to shooting the film, a significant part of music had been created. Tykwer
recruited a limited orchestra and recorded them playing out the score. Tykwer played the
recorded music on set so individuals could investigate the air and the acoustic universe of
the film while they were acting in it. The music was likewise utilized rather than temp
music during altering.
⮚ DIRECTION:
“Perfume was supposed to be unfilmable as proclaimed by the people at the time of
its making however, yet Tom Tykwer accepts he's separated the enthusiastic pith of
the novel and given it substance.”
Süskind (writer of perfume) allegedly felt that Kubrick and Milos Forman (Famous
Directors) could do the book equity, and denied any remaining comers. Fifteen years
after distribution, be that as it may, he yielded and offered the rights to his companion,
Bernd Eichinger (The Name of the Rose, Downfall), in 2000, for a reputed $10million of
the maker's own cash. Eichinger met with various chiefs yet felt that lone Tykwer, "a
traditionalist director who likes to analyze regardless and has extraordinary visionary
force", was truly on top of the material.
Tykwer during the direction said;
"I don't really consider myself to be a director in the traditional sense because I don't
just enjoy the fact that I'm standing on a set and working with an actor. The craft only
gets exciting for me if it's connected with something that I care for. I needed to
reconfirm that with True. And then Perfume came along. It was the perfect way back
in because it seemed completely unexpected and completely fresh, and there was
something about it that was so challenging and so impossible, that it was exactly the
thing I had been waiting for."
The direction has been done in such an artistic and appealing way that Connect the
audience greatly with the period piece. It has the tendency to show a period as if it's
something that wasn't really alive but living inside us making us go through the emotion
that characters are going and that is bewildering. Direction was so up to the point that
even the lack of dialogues doesn’t seems to bother because there was no need of
dialogues, the actions of characters were speaking hundred thousand volumes which

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show the impeccable directory skills of Tykwer. Direction for such a film came as a great
challenge yet level of flawlessness and accomplishment was so good that it seems like,
Directed it as if we were thrown into a time machine with a camera, often
cinéma vérité-style, throwing away great locations and panning over them
as if it was nothing-Recreation of 18th century Paris is no joke. What
required is the Deep understanding of characters to guide them to such
extent that people will reflect the emotion of characters not only sympathy
but something more complex as an emotion.

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