The Perfumier review: Netflix adaptation of 'Perfume' is subversive but half-baked, lifeless

2/5

Story:

Sunny (Emilia Schule), a young police detective, tries desperately to regain her lost sense of smell and ends up falling prey to the supposed ‘superhuman’ and ‘angelic’ powers of the perfumier Dorian. As Sunny enjoys the luxury of her found sense of scent (courtesy Dorian) is actually a plot on the perfumiers part and she soon understands that she is actually descending into darkness.

Review:

Patrick Suskind’s 1985 novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer has already inspired a full-length feature film adaptation, a six-part show on Netflix, and even a musical over the years, with each form finding success in their individual pursuits. However, it would seem that filmmakers are still drawn to the beguiling and unique world that Suskind imagined in his novel with German director Nils Willbrandt making a fresh attempt at it as The Perfumier (German title: Der Parfumeur).

Released straight on Netflix, The Perfumier is an abridged, reimagined version of the much-celebrated story that is set in modern-day Germany, and despite Willbrandt's sincere efforts to lend his version a more gothic and dreamier edge, the film ends up being a dull and incoherent exercise. Running at a length of 96 minutes, The Perfumier does boast of a few promising moments but they come as very few and too far between that one is likely to find the previous two on-screen adaptations seem far superior. As much as the new film tries to do justice to the original source material, it fails in replicating its haunting and apathetic world or even building effective character, thus ending up as a complete misfire.

One of the main issues lies in Willbrandt and Zimmerman’s reimagination and the change in the central perspective of the story. While the original novel follows Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the mesmeric perfume maker who turns a serial killer, The Perfumier tells the story through Sunny, a young and enterprising female cop in her prime. Sunny is a highly capable police officer but she is desperate to regain the sense of smell that she lost when was 7 years old so, when a series of grisly murders brings her face-to-face with the evil perfumier, Dorian, she is instantly by his powers to help her in the cause. Of course, in return, she relinquishes the grip on her own sanity and is soon consumed by Dorian’s lure. 

The writers first falter in creating compelling characters out of both Sunny and Dorian. Much of the film features Sunny’s narration who echoes the thoughts of her mind in poetic ways but her character lacks the required emotional depth to qualify as a protagonist. Patrick Suskind’s novel uses the human scent as a metaphor for the social alienation and conceit that Grenouille, the perfumier, exudes and it was through his journey that the story unfurls as a fantastical satire.

The Perfumier, however, is a mutual affair because as important and disturbing Dorian’s exploits are, the film is meant to be the beguiling effect he has on Sunny. It’s a descent to darkness for her, as she learns that the new-found luxury of scent is actually a spell of destruction cast by the perfumier, except that he is already waiting for her deep down in the abyss with open arms. On paper, this is a stunning character play, almost a love story, in fact, but the sluggish pacing and incoherence in the script become huge concerns. The film becomes a tedious watch quite early in the runtime and that’s because Dorian is never explored fully and what we get instead is a half-baked version. Sunny’s own mental decline sees her love life crumble on the side and despite the magnitude of her turmoil, the film is eventually found caught unaware of what to do with the new perspective.

Verdict:

Nils Willbrant’s The Perfumier begins an enterprising subversion of the 1985 story but the makers fail to utilize it for anything substantial. For those who prefer haunting and gloomy thrillers of the Nordic noir kind, The Perfumier is most likely to be a let down because the film never transcends from being a ‘novel idea’. And for the ardent lovers of the Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, the latest adaptation is likely to make you want to revisit the other two versions to rinse of the bad taste in the mouth that The Perfumier will leave behind.