Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

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

Twenty years after its first publishing Perfume never stops enchanting; it is studied at universities across the world in all the disciplines it occupies: psychology, history, criminology, law, and of course, literature. perfume is the most successful novel written in the German language since the Im Westen nichts Neues (or All Quiet on the Western Front) by Erich Maria Remark.

The producer Bernd Eichinger read the novel when it was first published back in 1985. He immediately spoke with his friend, the author Patrick Süskind, to provide him copyrights. “It is a unique story, powerful on so many levels. I felt that it would make a magnificent movie. But Süskind wasn’t interested.” The book remained on the wish-list of many prominent directors, but Süskind 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 (Gladiator, Blade Runner, Hannibal, Thelma and Louise, The Hunger), Martin Scorsese (The Departed, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Aviator), Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish), Milos Forman (Hair, Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and the late Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, The 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 Grenouille and his alienation.

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

The script is about the author of a bestseller (who was out of the public eye for years); the director who wants to film the adaptation; and the big producer who wants to buy out the copyrights.
Although it is obvious that the three main characters represent Süskind, Dittle and Eichinger, the German public was excited by the challenge of discovering "who is who" between the rest of the characters. Unfortunately, that was by far the closest Süskind came to giving permission for a big-screen adaptation Perfume.

Finally, fifteen years after the first attempt, Eichinger 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.”

Eichinger 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 a well-known screentwriter, Eichinger wrote the script for his Oscar-nominated movie Hitler: the Last Days. He chose Andrew Birkin to help him accomplish his vision of Perfume in English. Birkin was one of the screenwriters of Eichinger`s film version of The Name Of The Rose, and Bernd was the producer of Birkin`s films Desire 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 Eichinger is known for taking complex material and adapting it for the big screen. The Name of the Rose was considered to be impossible for adaptation. Eichinger`s film version beat down viewing records worldwide.

His answer to the most obvious question, how to display the olfactory genius of Grenouille, was: “You can’t make the olfactory sense visually approachable on the big screen. The book doesn’t have the smell either. Süskind`s gift lies in his ability to describe with common language Grenouille'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 a matter of fact, the greater challenge for the Eichinger was how to make the main character comprehensive: “Grenouille 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 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.

Relying on a character like Grenouille is in great disagreement with the rules of the screenwriters. 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 motives. The character should have been written in a 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 of how to present the scents using the film language.”

The film was directed by the famous German director Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run, The 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-Baptiste Grenouille.

During the last year, the movie won many awards among which are the 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 the Silver Award for an extraordinary movie). More recently it was nominated for the European Film Award.

(via official press release, imdb.com)

Author: Đorđe Zelenović (A*Men)
Fragrantica Member