Movies are seldom as good as the books. The same is true here, but the producers did their best to portray the story as true to the book as was feasible. It's a worthwhile story. I won't spoil the plot, just suggest that it's worth seeing.

The story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (John Whishaw) takes us on a journey from the squalor of Paris's fish markets, to the city's most established perfume houses, to the quietude of the countryside and finally to the attention of society's elite. Grenouille has the best nose in Paris, and a compulsion to continue expanding his library of olfactory experiences. He progresses from Madame Gaillard's orphanage to Grimal's tannery, and from here coaxes his way into an apprenticeship with the once-respected Perfumier, Baldini. Here he learns vocabulary for the aromas, how to write formulae and how to present himself in society if he is to become a great artisan one day. Without Grenouille's knowledge, the people who've had any influence in his disadvantaged life are doomed soon after he moves on from them.Having kept his promise of 100 written perfume formulae for Baldini, Grenouille is encouraged to travel to Grasse to further expand his skills. Here he perfects the art of "enfleurage", a process by which odorless fats, solid at room temperature, are used to capture the fragrant compounds exuded by plants. Without a scent of his own, the young man's ultimate goal is to apply this methodology in a manner which will change his status forever, from reviled and feared to adored by mankind. German Director, Tom Tykwer, applies a mostly sepia / monochromatic colour scheme throughout the movie, with occasional bright splashes to focus the viewer on certain details: yellow plums, lavendar fields, flora and the red hair of the mesmerising young women Grenouille encounters. John Hurt's narration perfectly captures the author's original writing style, evokes the smells of the locale and slowly articulates the main character's disturbing thoughts.Whilst the movie is set in France, Grenouille's London accent eliminates the need for sub-titles and instead enables the viewer to keep pace as the story unfolds. The eerie choir music draws us deeply into this dark, extraordinary film. Our empathy for Grenouille's introversion and tenacity may begin to waver during the story. However, towards the end of the movie we are reminded of the struggles he's endured - his reasoning, sensuality and brilliance once again merit our respect. Grenouille's self-transformation from invisible to invincible is compelling. Patrick Suskind's best-selling novel which I first came across 30 years ago has been beautifully adapted to film. 10/10 Score in my opinion. This movie will appeal to anyone who has enjoyed Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover".

I hated the movie so much that I can not even find words to describe it.It's mindless, sexist, poorly executed, and definitely not worth the time. The only reason I'm giving it two stars is that the basic idea - of someone perceiving the world through smells - is nice, and that's merely the only good thing about this movie.

This movie, surely, isn't for everyone, but if you like it you will probably find a gem in this movie.It tells us the story of Jean Baptiste Grenouille, a boy who is born with an overdeveloped sense of smell and he wants to find the way to make all this different scents he smells to remain. The story is so great, told in an awesome way, and for me it was very original, something that you don't get to see that much these days. Because it's a story about perfumes, scents and smells, the movie had the difficult task to transmit that to us without having the possibility of the smells in a movie theater or in your house, but the director (Tom Tykwer) was able to recreate this world of smells in a very unique way. Although there were some parts that did not make much sense (why does he suddenly decides to live in the mountains? This is not really well explained) but they don't affect that much to the story development.Ben Wishaw shines here as Grenouille providing a performance with not many lines of dialogue but that transmits a lot with his movements and face gestures. He has that bit of innocence but also you see the madness he ends up with. Also Alan Rickman, who does not appear until the middle of the movie or so, provides a very powerful performance as the main antagonist, Richi the father of Laura, one of the possible future victims of Grenouille. The one I felt was a bit overdone was Dustin Hoffman who wasn't at the height of a perfume maker of Paris.The visuals in this movie were very stunning, with many powerful scenes (like the Final Perfume Scene, when Grenouille meets Laura or many more) that capture this aggressive, dark and gritty world but without needing violence or explosions , like in modern blockbusters, just keeping the tension and taking you to the world of scents in a wonderful way. And for that, the director had the help of himself, Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek to create a magnificent score that almost provides this "smell" that you cannot introduce in a movie with very beautiful and also very creepy melodies.I recommend you to watch this movie and after that you will see if you liked it or not but for me was a wonderful experience and I surely recommend it to everyone.