Movie 2009.12.04 - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer A.K.A. Scent of 13 Women. Directed by Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run fame based on the novel by Patrick Suskind.

Strange story about an 18th century lad named Grenouille, who was born in a foul-smelling fish market, but had the uncanny gift of smell. With some training from a perfumer called Guiseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), he masters the tricks of the trades, and sets out to create the ultimate perfume using oils derived from the scent of 13 very beautiful women - all of them now dead.

Grenouille was eventually caught and sentenced to die by beheading. Just as the guards were about to give him a beating in his cell, Grenouille pulls out his vial of perfume, and the guards stop in their tracks. At the town plaza, Grenouille arrives wearing expensive clothes in a magnificent coach. The moment the murderous mob smelled him, they too had a change of heart and started cheering for him, declaring him to be an innocent angel. Grenouille drops some perfume on his handkerchief and lets it flutter in the wind. The crowd goes into a rapture - all the townspeople took off their clothes and started having an orgy right then and there. By the time they woke up, Grenouille is gone.

Would've been nice to see what he would do next, given that he can make people do his bidding so easily. Well, back in Paris, he was feeling a bit down because his first love didn't return his affection, and he eventually killed her. So he returns to the place of his birth and drenches himself with his vial of perfume. There was a crowd of homeless people nearby and they become enraptured. Everyone wanted a piece of him, and that's what they did. By the time the people came back to their senses and left the scene, all that's left of Grenouille is a pile of bloodied clothes. Loved to death, literally.