Perfume

I really like this film. I love the raw setting. The opening scenes were vile and raw and my eyes were glued to the screen in the manner of looking at roadkill ("Oh gross, I can't look" [but look anyway]). I liked the plot and the making of perfume: I thought this interesting and well researched. I thought it sad that the young women were killed and dumped in their vulnerability, but as far as murder stories go, I though this was a good one.

Until the really strange final scenes filled the screen. My mouth agape, I couldn't quite work out what the heck was happening. How bizarre. That the scent of the women could render an evil man an angel; unfathomable.

The protagonist is weird and I thought him unlikeable. He has no soul and no scent, and he appears in the dark in many scenes, slowly appearing as if he were a ghost. His sillhouette enters our vision before his face does - eerie!

And the wonderfully rich colours: opulent emerald, ravishing red - the girls' hair flying in the wind, wonderful rich colours and tumbling curls. The pukey greys and sloshing sounds in the opening scenes is foul but brilliant: slashes on the screen of gutting animals and the raw brutality that is the fishmarket.

Overall I rate this film average (see it because it's different) **