How far can one go to feed his obsession has always been a mystery to me. What does it take to be socially acceptable? Does excessive love for beauty justify murder? To what extent will you go to keep beauty within your grasp?

Perfume

These questions bugged me after watching Perfume: The story of a Murderer. Perfume is a gripping tale about a boy who lived all his life in total chaos but was gifted with superb olfactory sense. Set in 18th century France, it portrayed the epic journey of perfumer who was, ironically, born in a putrid marketplace where fishes are butchered, cleaned, and sold. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (pronounced John Batisse) was abandoned by his mother right after giving birth. In my mind, it’s one of those bloodiest scenes you could ever take.

A woman’s courage of giving birth by herself  is admirable (one push, one loud cry, and its over) but if she lacks any motherly instinct, that can be horribly despicable. Can you take the sight of a mother cutting her child’s umbilical cord with a knife used to clean fishes? And then kicking the child hard along with fish innards? It was so poignantly vomit-inducing. The very thought of it is enough to cause torment. (I want to get hold of the novel where this was based on. Some say the movie was “curiously sterile” and lacks magic, and that the book version was way better.)

Jean-Baptiste’s boyhood was without the usual charm and innocence of youth. As an orphan, living in such a merciless world can surely create a monster out of anyone like a bacteria that grows stronger in a decomposing environment. He became a street urchin, but was later sold to a man to be a whale butcher. The years to come would witness him as a swift murderer.

He had this unusual power towards detecting scents, though he doesn’t cringe with unpleasant ones as normal people would. Like a greedy soul, he devours all kinds of smells. And what’s even surprising — these scents can give him vivid pictures. With both eyes closed, he can tell what’s happening across distance using his olfactory nerves. It also allows him to evade danger.

Jean-Baptiste goes where his nose leads him to. One time it carried him to a perfumery. I guess he was so amazed with what he saw. Next thing, he was already following a young woman who sells plums. It was crucial to the film not so much because of intense sexual innuendos, but because it defined how his love for beauty can lead him to kill. He followed the lady sniffing her scent. What do you expect the girl’s normal reaction would be? She attempted to cry for help but Jean-Baptiste was so strong. He ended up strangling her. Just like that. Was there any sign of remorse? Absolutely none. What was imminent was the “glorious” emotion pouring from him as he caressed the dead’s body, remembering all her scents, taking them all lustfully with his hands, inhaling, memorizing as if it’s all there is to behold and live for. Perhaps it was that same state that prompted him to leave his old job and be a perfumer under Giuseppe Baldini,  a well-known perfume maker (on the brink of bankruptcy because his perfumes had gone out of fad). Jean-Baptiste’s superhuman sense made him famous once more but on the condition that Baldini helps him “capture” all scents possible.

(to be continued)