The Perfume – CRONOLOGY OF A CRIME

11/20/07 00:29:21

Popular thriller about the killer and the perfume-maker Jean Baptist Granville was first published in Switzerland at the beginning of 1985. Patrick Ziskind, the author, born in 1949 in the Munich area, became the world sensation. The novel was sold in over 12 million copies worldwide and translated in 42 languages and there is even the Latin edition!

Twenty years after its first publishing “The perfume” never stops enchanting; it is studied at the universities across the world in all the disciplines it occupies: psychology, history, criminology, law and, of course, literature. “The perfume” is the most successful novel written in German language since the “Im Westen nichts Neues” (“Nothing new on the Westside”) by Erich Maria Remark.

The producer Bernd Ihinger read the novel when it was first published back in 1985. He immediately spoke with his friend, the author Patrick Ziskind, to provide him copyrights. “It is unique story, powerful on so many levels. I felt that it would make magnificent movie.” But Ziskind wasn’t interested. The book remained on the wish-list of many prominent directors, but Ziskind was refusing every offer. That refusal of his, the unwillingness to sell the copyrights, became legendary.

The potential directors of the movie were Ridley Scott (The Gladiator, Blade Runner, Hannibal, Thelma and Louise, A Good Year…), Martin Scorsese (The Departed, The Taxi Driver, Good Fellows, The Airman…), Tim Burton (Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Big Fish…), Milosz Forman (The Hair, Amadeus, Flight Above
The Coo coo Nest…) and the late Stanley Kubrick (Space Odyssey 2001, Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Lolita, Eyes Wide Shut…) who claimed the book to be utterly non-filmic.
The book was even an inspiration to the deceased leader of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, for the song Scentless Apprentice because Cobain claimed that he carried the book in his pocket and that he identified with Granville and his alienation.

In the mid-nineties the shy writer (who was even compared with Salinger in Germany) wrote funny script named Rossini which was directed by Ihinger`s friend of many years, Helmut Dittle.

The script is about the author of the bestseller (who was out of public for years); the director who wants to film the adaptation; and the big producer who wants to buy out the copyrights.
Although obvious that the three main characters represent Ziskind, Dittle and Ihinger, the German public was excited with challenge of discovering `who is who` between the rest of the characters. Unfortunately, that was by far the most Ziskind went in the way of giving permission for big screen adaptation of The Perfume.

Finally, fifteen years after the first attempt, Ihinger felt that it could be the right moment. “My enthusiasm was not declining. I still had faith in the project, I tried again and we made a deal.”

Ihinger immediately started working on the first version of the script. “There is no prominent producer that would try to buy out the copyrights for the material as complex as this one, and not to have the vision of how it is going to be adapted. My first offer to Patrick came when the novel was first published in German. I have been living with my vision of the film for all those years. Writing accompanied naturally.

Being the well known scriptwriter, Ihinger wrote the script for the Oscar nominated movie of his - Hitler: the last days. He chose Andrew Birkin to help him accomplish his vision of The Perfume in English. Birkin was one of the scriptwriter of Ihinger`s film version of The Name Of The Rose and Bernd was the producer of Birkin`s films The Salt On Our Skin and The Cement Garden. When Tom Tykwer joined as a director, the three of them started to work as a team. During the next three years they continued their work on the adaptation.

The producer Ihinger is known by his taking the complex material and adapting it for the big screen. The Name of the Rose was considered to be impossible for the adaptation. Ihinger`s film version beat down the view records worldwide.

His answer to the most obvious question, how to display the olfactory genius of Granville, was: “You can’t make the olfactory sense visually approachable on the big screen. The book doesn’t have the smell either.
Ziskind`s gift lies in his ability to describe with common language Granville’s world which he discovers through the olfactory sense exclusively and let the reader sneak in. We did the same with the different language, made out of sound, music, dialogue and, of course, picture.

As the matter affect, the greater challenge for the Ihinger was how to make the main character comprehensive: “Granville speaks very little and we were not in a position to allow him the usual self-revealing dialogue which would be common for the regular character. We had to find the unusual ways to reveal his real self. He is a perfectionist, obsessed with creation, let’s say, the most powerful love potion. That is the scent that would bring to its master the love and adulation of others.

Relaying on the character like Granville is in the great disagreement with the rules of the scriptwriters. He does not have the concept of belonging to the mankind. He is amoral. That means that it is not the question whether we are going to identify ourselves with him but if we would be able to understand his motifs. The character should have been written in the way to fascinate the audience with his obsession. If you understand his obsession, you enter deep into the character and the movie. That was much more important than the question how to present the scents using the film language.

The film was directed by the famous German director Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run, Princess and the Warrior…) and the actors` crew consisted of Dustin Hoffman, Allan Rickman, Rachel Wood and young actor Ben Wishaw who plays the character of Jean- Baptist Granville.

During the last year the movie won many awards among which are Bambi Award for the national film, two Bavarian Film Awards (the best director – Tom Tykwer, the best scenery – Uly Hunnish), six German Film Awards (The Golden Award-the best director award, the best camera, the best scenery, the best costume, the best montage and sound and Silver Award for extraordinary movie; lately it was nominated for the European Film Award.

(via official press release, imdb.com)

Author: Đorđe Zelenović (A*Men)
Fragrantica Member