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改編自德國著名作家徐四金Patrick Suskind經典暢銷驚慄小說
故事簡介
1738年，Jean-Baptiste Grenouille（賓韋沙飾）於巴黎一個魚市場呱呱落地，天生沒有體味的他，嗅覺卻極度敏銳。童年坎坷的他住過孤兒院、在環境惡劣的皮革廠做過童工後，輾轉間被香水師Baldini（德斯汀荷夫曼飾）賞識，並開始學習調製香水。Grenouille混合香味的技巧很快已青出於藍，但他心底裏最迷戀的其實是女性體香，這種欲望更令他不能自拔，每次碰到氣味叫他心儀的女性，他都會把她殺死，然後用她製成香水！
為了尋求一支最終極、最完美的香水，Grenouille前往法國著名「香水之都」格拉斯（Grasse）。途中他遇上體味異常動人的Laura（麗歌賀活飾），決意要把她的獨特氣味收進香水內，永遠只供他一人獨享。
另一邊廂，Laura的商人父親Richis（阿倫力文飾）留意到十二個年輕少女連環被殺的消息，深怕自己女兒的生命亦受到威脅。他帶?Laura逃到地中海一間偏僻臨海旅館，但Grenouille卻毫不費力跟隨著Laura的香氣而至．．．
原著
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille這位連環殺手，於1985年由德國作家徐四金（Patrick Suskind）創造出來，小說＜香水 - 一個殺人者的故事＞（Perfume: The Story of a Murderer）（下簡稱為＜香水＞）迅即風靡全球讀者。＜香水＞於Spiegel暢銷榜連續15星期高踞榜首，更連續449星期佔據Buchreport暢銷榜。
＜香水＞其後被繙繹成45個語言版本（甚至有拉丁文版），全球共售出逾1500萬本，單是原著德文版已賣出400萬本，是繼Erich Maria Remarque的＜西線無戰事＞（All Quiet on the Western Front）後最成功的德文小說。本電影的德國出品人艾辛格（Bernd Eichinger）於2001年取得小說的電影版權。
前傳GENESIS
德國殿堂級出品人艾辛格於1985讀到剛面世的＜香水＞。他立即聯絡作者徐四金（Patrick Suskind），表示希望取得小說的電影版權。艾辛格說：「這是個多麼獨特的故事，從多個角度震撼人心。我知道它能拍成一齣絕世的電影。」但徐四金拒絕了他
- 也拒絕了無數其他製片人。這本小說變成了眾人虎視眈眈又無人能得手的獵物，成為電影界一時佳話。
艾辛格繼道：「我以為作為徐四金好友，自己會有優勢，可惜他堅決不賣。」導演湯泰華（Tom Tykwer）說：「我想，他覺得沒有人能改編這個層次複雜的故事。」而小說推出僅一年，＜香水＞已成為國際暢銷書，被翻譯成45個不同語言，是史上第二本暢銷的德語小說（第一本為Remarque的戰爭小說＜西線無戰事＞）。
但長達十五年的耐性終於得到回報。艾辛格在2000年再次開口，徐四金答應把＜香水＞搬上大銀幕。而艾辛格也邀得他認為是最理想導演湯泰華來拍攝這齣歷來耗資最巨大的德國電影。「湯泰華是個創意無限的導演，他樂於作新嘗試，但同時亦喜歡於一個經典的框架上拍攝一套現代化的電影。結果，＜香水＞這齣戲拍成了，效果跟我多年來想像的一模一樣。」
＜香水＞由德國獨立電影公司Constantin Film斥資，同時獲瑞士企業家Gigi Oeri及慕尼黑的VIP Medienfonds電影基金會贊助，所以能得到美國夢工場的合約，發行毫無難題。
「但問題來了：故事主角從來不說話。如果是小說，還可以用第三者旁白來交代；但在電影是不可能的，觀眾要聽到角色親身說話才能投入。」為解決這問題，艾辛格會見過不同國家的導演和編劇，但始終未能找出共識。本身曾寫過奧斯卡提名劇本＜希特拉的最後12夜＞的艾辛格最後決定邀請Andrew Birkin把小說寫成英文劇本。Birkin過去已為艾辛格改編過小說，寫成電影＜魔宮傳奇＞的劇本，已艾辛格則出品過Birkin所的執導電影＜有情不悔＞和＜The Cement Garden＞。而由於劇本與別不同，艾辛格亦精挑細選，決定由湯泰華擔任導演。湯泰華憑?電影＜疾走羅拉＞及＜疾走天堂＞揚名國際，而他極具創意、視野及頭腦，最適合拍攝這種複雜奇詭的電影。
每一位攝製隊成員和演員艾辛格、Birkin和湯泰華斬仔細選擇，電影於2005年7月12日至10月16日期間拍攝。頭十五日完全用來拍攝男主角Grenouille於香水師Baldini的香水廠見習的場景，其餘場景如巴黎魚市場和「香水之都」格拉斯，全部於西班牙（尤其是巴塞隆那、赫羅納和費格雷斯）取景。湯泰華帶領著350名攝製隊人員及共5200名臨時演員，單是交通安排已大費周章。本身是位音樂人的他，更與樂隊隊友Johnny Klimek和Reinhold Heil寫成「Perfume: The Story of a Murderer」一曲。電影於慕尼黑進行的後期製作，在2006年夏季完成。
訪問湯泰華
你是何時接觸到＜香水＞這小說的？
當我廿來歲時，人人都在讀這小說，但我本身不太喜歡以舊時代為背景的著作，所以很遲才去認真地看了一回。不過讀畢後我真的刮目相看，故事情節的確叫人印象難忘。
＜香水＞這小說怎影響了你？
叫人最深刻是小說內描述的感官上的「黑暗」 - 作者詳細地描述在十八世紀日常生活裏污穢和垃圾；情節極端又戲劇化，誇張但十分真實。不過叫我最欣賞的地方是這小說以鮮明而懾人的手法帶出一個本應悲哀而黯淡的故事 - 這個故事，基本上就是一個男人因得不同愛而感到異常寂寞，也不懂怎樣處理情緒。他逃到一個只剩下嗅覺的世界，漸漸變得自我中心，跟社會和道德脫了節。嗅覺如何影響我們的世界觀這概念，是個很廣闊、美麗又很抽象的主題。
另一個令我印象難忘的，是儘管男主角四周都有人，但他依然徹底的寂寞，他不自覺地不斷追尋別人的認同，最後失去控制，釀成悲慘。一個人要怎樣才能得到別人的重視？徐四金為你提供一個簡單但駭人的答案。
那麼，你認為這本小說為什麼會這麼成功？
這是我一直在想的問題：一個十八世紀的怪人，是怎樣博得如此龐大讀者群的歡心？後來我進行了一項調查，發覺不少人在最深心處把男主角當成自己。這是一本你想獨自看的書，你不會想跟朋友分享心得，因為它說的是無處不在的寂寞，和一個未被認同的天才。Grenouille是個寂寞悲慘的英雄，同時又只是一個極端自我而被世人忽略的小人物。這是你和我都熟識的人物，我們都有被忽略的時候，我們都想被發現、被重視，由旁人驗證我們的存在。徐四金是第一個作者把嗅覺在傳統小說放在一個如斯重要的位置上。而其實人人都有無數關於氣味的經歷。嗅覺對我們的記憶舉足輕重，它是我們的過去的抽象紀錄模式，還在不知不覺間引導我們日常生活中的種種行為。換句話說，這本小說不單是一個搜集了豐富歷史資料而寫成的故事，更是一個心路歷路，帶我們我們尋回一個熟悉但被忽略的內在世界。徐四金把我們都變成兇手同謀，甚至令我們期待他被赦免 - 當然，我們也知道這是不可能發生的。
另一方面，＜香水＞也是對美學世界思維的探究。這故事說的是我們怎樣混淆了現實與對完美追求。今時今日，尤其是在西方社會，人們迷戀明星或藝人閃爍的包裝，以外表來判斷甚至詮釋自己的存在。這種謬誤，正正表現在＜香水＞裏。在Grenouille那個年代，香水和肥皂是有錢人的玩意兒，而Grenouille這個不起眼的男人來到，創造了一種超凡的香水，一夜成名。這跟時下明星的行徑根本沒有大分別，他們紛紛披上一個假的形象，甚至整容來追求某一種「理想標準」，可惜結果大多是失敗。＜香水＞就是這樣的一個悲劇。
演男主角Grenouille要有什麼特質？
他必須同時既率真又疏離、既年輕又老成。我們要找的是一張面孔較陌生，但卻能扛起這個角色的演員。在這齣戲裏，幾乎沒有一幕是Grenouille沒有份兒的。找了很久之後，我向倫敦舊維多利亞劇院的選角經理Michelle Guish求助。她帶我去看正在飾演哈姆雷特的23歲演員賓韋沙，我立即便知道自己找到了。賓韋沙能以特別的方式運用他的身體，舉手投足間極有風範。他能帶領觀眾探視Grenouille這個古怪的人物，為此電影添上靈魂。
演女主角Laura的麗歌賀活又怎樣？
Grenouille對少女，尤其是Laura的迷戀，是超越肉體的需求 - 他追求的是處女散發的香氣。事實上戲裏有兩位重要的女角，那就是Laura和第一位被Grenouille殺害的賣梅女孩。她們必須年紀小但思想成熟。飾演賣梅女孩的德國演員Karoline Herfurth就是這麼一個帶點滄桑味的少女。而來自英國的麗歌賀活，她所飾演的Laura的社會地位遠遠高過Grenouille，令他覺得遙不可及。而我深信麗歌賀活成功地演繹了原著中的Laura。她極具魅力，令人傾倒。
你們又是怎樣想到由德斯汀荷夫曼來演Baldini？
沒有人比德斯汀荷夫曼更適合演Baldini。他不但縱橫影壇多年，而且有莊諧並重的獨特風格。Baldini在＜香水＞內是個極重要的角色，因為他是唯一與Grenouille有交流甚至抗衡的人。Baldini既想靠Grenouille賺錢，但本身的才華又遜於這位後浪。賓韋沙跟德斯汀荷夫曼在片場內很合得來，你能察覺到他倆在比拼演技。德斯汀荷夫曼總是充滿活力和幽默感，他演出時的熱誠和愉快更會感染整個片場。他常常說演戲的方式不是只有一種，而是有五百種，關鍵是在找?最適當的那一種。很多時我們會由得攝製機開?，然後看看那個效果才最好。這種拍攝方式自由度很大，充滿樂趣，叫人十分享受。
阿倫力文又如何被選中扮演商人Richis？
阿倫力文是我們心目中演Richis的首選，而他亦是即時答應我們的。我從見過像他那樣會咬文嚼字的人，他令好幾幕戲的層次更深，原創性更強。＜香水＞的故事末段發展成Richis和Grenouille之間的對戰，而後者幾乎立於不敗之地。所以Richis這色必須起碼能跟Grenouille匹敵。Richis是個想極力保護女兒的父親，也是唯一威脅到Grenouille的人。演他的人必須在短時間內獲得觀眾的尊重及認同，阿倫力文不但做到這一點，而且他真的擁有那個年代的人的氣質。他穿上戲服時，活脫脫就像來自那個年代的人。他也令我明白到，一個演員把虛擬的情節演得仿如史實，是十分重要的一回事。
訪問BEN WHISHAW
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille是個怎樣的人？
他在很多方面都是不足的，尤其是在社會地位方面。他是個不應被生下來的人。但他有一項超乎常人的才能 -敏銳的嗅覺。也許是因為他生於充斥?各種氣味的巴黎。我常跟導演湯泰華談論這個自我又孤僻的角色怎樣看這世界，對他來說有什麼是重要的東西等等。跟原著不同的是，湯泰華認為Grenouille憑?嗅覺來詮釋這個世界。
Grenouille的遭遇又如何？
他生於18世紀的巴黎，窮得要命，這使他極端渴求愛與社會認同。但他用了錯的手法去取得自己想要的東西。他為了煉製香水而殺人。那種瘋狂近乎恐怖分子，對他來說生存就是為捕捉香氣；尤其是後來他發現自己天生沒有任何體味，在極度的失望之下，他對氣味的渴求更加強烈。在故事的後半部，他鍥而不捨地煉製一種只屬於他自己的獨特香水。
Grenouille和Richis的美麗的女兒Laura有一段特別的關係。
嗯，其實Grenouille跟Laura以至所有人都沒有「正常」的關係。這就是這角色詭異之處。他對Laura只有佔有欲，但這種情感令他跟迷戀的對象有?一種距離。他不認識她，也沒有當她是一個人 - 他只識辨到，也只關心她的體香。
你提及你跟湯泰華在拍攝時討論很多東西。你跟這位導演的合作如何？
某度上湯泰華跟Grenouille一樣瘋狂──我從未認識過一個像他那樣對拍戲充滿熱誠和樂於付出的人。我們無時無刻、不分早晚地討論?，他的電影視野令我大開眼界，叫我心生敬意。與他合作是個叫人興奮的好經驗。
Grenouille和Baldini的師徒關係又如何？
我想，Baldini和Grenouille之間是互惠互利的。Grenouille想從Baldini身上知道怎樣捕取香味，Baldini則想靠Grenouille的天分來重振自己的聲威；他們的出發點都是實際而自私的。這一種「關係」，其實也不是一種真正的關係。
Baldini一角由德斯汀荷夫曼飾演。
德斯汀荷夫曼是影壇傳奇，能與他拍對手戲實是榮幸。我記得第一天踏進片場，便見到他在演戲。那一刻我想：我是不是在做夢？那是德斯汀荷夫曼？從他身上我學到很多東西，他演戲的手法充滿樂趣，幾乎似在遊戲人間。他就是任由攝影機拍下自己大情大性的模樣，完全沒有任何限制。這對我來說是驚奇又新鮮的一回事。
你跟阿倫力文 - 你的另一對手Richis - 有一個共通點，就是你們來自同一間演藝學院。
沒錯，我很喜歡阿倫力文這位演員。今次我們在戲內碰頭的機會不多，但我很喜歡在等開鏡時跟他聊天。他對人生有一種很聰明的想法，而且他對演戲也充滿熱誠。我很喜歡看他演出，他的演技總是蘊含?更深奧的層次，叫我嘆服。
你跟來自英國的麗歌賀活又合作得怎樣？
麗歌是位與眾不同的女孩子，她性格十分成熟，我真不相信她只有16歲。她長得非常漂亮，而且永遠精神奕奕。
香味是這齣戲的靈魂。你有否因此練就更敏銳的嗅覺？
我想其實每個人都很留意氣味吧，氣味與我們的情感有?密不可分的關係。我的嗅覺並沒有因這套戲而變得敏銳，不過我肯定有某幾種氣味會令我回想起這套戲的種種。尤其是負責拍板的Nicole身上那種香水味，下次再嗅到那種香水，我就會回到2005年的夏天。
你對氣味有偏好嗎？
有，不過沒啥特別的 - 我最愛營火和雨後水泥地的氣味，那令我回想起老家倫敦。我真的離家很久了。
訪問德斯汀荷夫曼
好的香水是什麼？
跟我們做的所有事情一樣：個性和靈魂。我們做所有事，其實不外乎是想令那件事添上自己的特色，從而令人信服，或是留下深刻印象。
拍戲亦如是？
當然了。拍戲是魔術。就像你看到一架飛機，第一眼你看見它，你未必相信它能在半空中飛翔。拍戲亦如是，很多東西最初都好像不可能，最後卻成功了，像變魔術似的。所以，當你看?一些碎片慢慢拼湊起來時，你會更認真地想完成這幅圖畫。就是這種心情令我想繼續工作下去。
你和Baldini有類似之處嗎？
有。Baldini總是害怕被人得知他「偷」香味。我這一生也是個賊，因為藝術就是偷竊。要是能跟Baldini見面，我會告訴他：喂，別覺得內疚，我也是賊啊。（笑）
Baldini跟他的徒弟Grenouille又怎樣？
這兩師徒的關係，就像＜莫札特傳＞一戲裏的莫札特和薩列尼（Salieri）一樣。天才莫札特遇上前輩「大師」薩列尼，薩列尼對莫札特既注意又避忌。同樣地，雖然Baldini對製造香水瞭如指掌，但他缺乏莫札特的天賦。
你對賓韋沙的演出有何評價？
我要到正式綵排才見到賓，而我一眼便明白為何湯泰華選中他：賓韋沙跟他的角色Grenouille一樣，擁有未被馴服的個性。大概十萬個演員之中，只有一人能有這種野性。
你怎認識導演湯泰華的？你跟他的合作如何？
我很喜歡湯泰華的＜疾走羅拉＞，數年前主動打過電話給他。後來我知道他正在改編<香水>，我自己大約20年前已看過這本小說，我主動提出想參演。
合作方面，湯泰華是個很清楚自己要什麼的人，每次工作都準備就緒。他很尊重演員的意見 - 不是每位導演都這麼開明。每當我向湯泰華提出一個新念頭，他都樂意聆聽，所以與他合作，感覺非常融洽。
訪問阿倫力文
今次你飾演商人Antoine Richis，請談談你的角色。
Antoine Richis是個富有的單親父親，與自己那長得像天使似的獨女住在一間豪宅內。他很愛女兒，他曾經說過：「妳是我的一切。」
後來他的女兒怎麼了？
故事因一個叫Grenouille的年輕人而起。Richis要到最後才遇上他，所以其實他只知道自己住的地方出現了一個連環殺手，殺手的目標是年輕貌美的少女，而他的女兒正是當地最年輕漂亮的女孩子之一，所以他知道自己的女兒處境危險。城內其他有錢人都在議論紛紛時，他卻跟這名不明來歷的殺手鬥智鬥力。
你能否理解Grenouille對香味、對他那支「終極香水」的瘋狂？
不。他是個兇手，常人很難理解那心態。但我覺得，我們需要明白這種瘋狂源自什麼，否則我們也難以明白自己在社會中的處境。對?載了殺人犯的警車扔石頭根本沒有意思。你要明白，社會如何、和為何生產了這樣的人。說回＜香水＞，Grenouille甫出生便被遺棄，整個童年都在受虐中度過，而唯一挽回他的自信心的，就是嗅覺，因此，他理所當然地迷戀氣味。
這故事叫你最深刻的是什麼？
我沒看過原著，一切印象來自劇本；但當我得知導演是湯泰華時，我很有興趣拍這齣戲。我想我也頗喜歡關於狂迷的故事（笑）。其實Richis跟Grenouille的佔有欲可謂不遑多讓，他保護女兒時，真的不遺餘力。
你看過湯泰華的其他作品嗎？
當然了，我看過＜疾走羅拉＞，但可惜我沒看過，或未看＜THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR＞。我也很喜歡他的另一齣短片＜TRUE＞。他是一位很出色的導演，不但控制了每一場戲的節奏，連每一格菲林都在他掌握之內。他知道一舜間的影像可以帶來的微妙效果，而這些細微之處其實也是情節的一部分。作為一個演員，能遇上一個自己可以百分之百信賴的導演，就是最叫人期待的了。
他是否演員喜歡的導演？
他很清楚自己要什麼，每一格菲林要拍什麼，一一都寫在他的腦裏。但同時，他絕非封閉的導演，他是英國人所講的「性格開朗」開心人。這種性格在導演身上是罕見的，因為這一行給導演的壓力很大，財政和其他方面也有很多限制。當事情有點緊張，而他仍然笑容滿面，這實在很難得，也使人心情隨之開朗起來。
美指人員盡量模仿古代的場景，運用古董家私和道具等等，在時光倒流的場景內，你的感覺如何？
今次的美指真的居功不少。戲內有巴黎貧民區的髒亂場景，也有Laura和我住的奢華大屋。但這些當然只是佈景，全部牆壁由他們親手髹好，再搭上價值連城的古董家具。而努力是有回報的 - 工作人員清理巴塞隆那滿布垃圾的街道時，忽然發現被垃圾掩蓋了十來廿年的美麗大理石地．．．觀眾必定會看得目瞪口呆。
訪問麗歌賀活
對於能參與一齣國際性電影，妳有什麼感想？
我很高興，每天跟大家拍戲是個很好的體驗。湯泰華是一位完美的導演，我很慶幸自己能飾演Laura。
Laura是格拉斯商人的獨女，妳認為她是個怎樣的人？
我想她像蝴蝶一樣，很想飛出父親的掌心。她野性又愛自由，活潑跳脫。
Laura跟Grenouille的關係又怎樣？Grenouille是個怎樣的人？
我想她根本察覺不到有問題。但這又有什麼關係呢？而Grenouille是個很怪的角色，他的內心很瘋狂黑暗，但他不是壞人。他只是分不清是非黑白。
妳覺得劇本如何？妳認為原著為什麼這麼受歡迎？
這是個絕妙的劇本。我早看過原著小說，知道故事說的是什麼。然後我看了劇本，覺得它改寫得極好，我對自己說「一定要參演這套戲」。
原著小說方面，我認為不同的人看了會有不同的感受，因為作者徐四金為情節添上很多細節，令故事層次極之豐富。
妳跟「父親」阿倫力文和「Grenouille」賓韋沙合作又如何？
阿倫是個很和藹可親和具幽默感的人，他很有耐性，很善解人意和樂於助人。賓也很好人，不過我們沒有太多同場戲。
德國導演湯泰華呢？
他很有創意，工作時很集中；就算人們做不到他的要求，他也不會動氣。他是個很冷靜和有耐性的人。
這是一齣另一個時代的戲，美指人員居功至高。你最喜歡那一個場景？
對，美指部真的花了很多工夫來佈置場景，例如Laura的睡房裏有一幅籠中鳥的畫，我問湯泰華「這是故意的吧？」他說是。美指人員真的照顧到很多地方。
我最喜歡Richis那又大又漂亮的大屋，還有那跑來跑去也跑不完的迷宮。
妳最喜歡的氣味是什麼？
成功的氣味！（笑）
演員履歷
賓韋沙Ben Whishaw（飾Jean-Baptiste Grenouille）
賓韋沙1980年10月14日生於英國赫特福德郡，2003年畢業於皇家戲劇藝術學院。
未就讀學院前，賓於1999年已參演過三齣電影：William Boyd的＜The Trench＞、Michel Blanc的＜Mauvaise Passe＞及Dom Rotheroe的＜My Brother Tom＞。畢業後，他參演過改編自Ian McEwan小說的＜Enduring Love＞，以及的＜非常古惑仔＞。2003年，他參與電視喜劇＜The Booze Cruise＞。其後，他參演的電影包括＜Stoned＞（2004）、＜Restraint of Beasts＞（2006）。電視劇有英國的＜Nathan Barley＞。
他參與的舞台劇有＜His Dark Materials＞、＜Hamlet＞及＜The Seagull＞。
德斯汀荷夫曼Dustin Hoffman（飾Giuseppe Baldini）
德斯汀荷夫曼生於洛杉磯。他憑舞台劇＜Harry, Noon and Night＞和＜Eh?＞一鳴驚人，勇奪Obie獎和Drama Desk Awards。其後，他在＜畢業生＞（1967）中的演出大獲好評，更獲提名奧斯卡。他繼而憑＜午夜牛郎＞、＜連尼傳＞、＜杜絲先生＞及＜作大英雄＞再六度獲提名奧斯卡。1979年，他以＜克藍瑪對克藍瑪＞首度榮膺金像獎影帝，1988年憑＜手足情未了＞再膺殊榮。
他的其他作品有＜巴比龍＞、＜驚天大陰謀＞、＜小人物與大逃犯＞、＜至尊神探＞、＜鐵?船長＞、＜極度驚慌＞、＜沉睡者＞＜幕後陪審團＞、＜笑看人心＞、＜小飛俠前傳之魔幻童心＞及＜非常外父生擒霍老爺＞。
1984年，他製作及演出大熱舞台劇＜推銷員之死＞，勇奪Drama Desk Award「最佳男主角」，其電影版本更為也再奪艾美獎。
他出品過＜A Walk on the Moon＞，及監製過奪兩項艾美獎的＜The Devil's Arithmetic＞。
阿倫力文Alan Rickman（飾Antoine Richis）
阿倫力文是英國電視、電影及舞台界的巨星，於皇家戲劇藝術學院畢業後加入皇家莎士比亞公司，1985年他於舞台劇＜Les Liaisons Dangereuses＞中飾演Vicomte de Valmont一角，精湛的演出令他獲東尼獎提名之餘，亦令他獲出品人Joel Silver賞識，挑選他於＜虎膽龍威＞中扮演布斯韋利士的死對頭。其後，他參演過＜一屋一鬼一情人＞、＜俠盜王子羅賓漢＞（1991，奪BAFTA獎）、李安的＜理智與感情＞（1995）、喜劇＜軟硬天使＞、＜星河救兵＞、＜真的戀愛了＞等。但阿倫力文最為人熟悉的角色，相信是＜哈利波特＞裏「石內卜教授」一角。而他最近期的作品有＜Nobel Son＞及＜雪花榚療情＞。
舞台劇方面，他於＜Cleopatra＞中扮演Marc Antony，以及在＜Private Lives＞中擔任Elyot一角（獲東尼獎提名）。
麗歌賀活Rachel Hurd-Wood（飾Laura）
麗歌賀活在1990年生於倫敦，自7歲起已喜歡演話劇。她首個引起觀眾注意的角色是＜小飛俠＞（2003）中的溫蒂一角，莉素憑此角獲Saturn Award及Young Artist Award提名。2004年，她與Sissy Spacek及Donald Sutherland合演懸疑片＜美國怪談＞。她最近亦參演英國電視劇＜Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking＞。
今次莉素於數百名演員中被選中飾演＜香水＞的女主角Laura，將會是年僅16歲的她影藝生涯中的一大挑戰。
幕後人員
湯泰華Tom Tykwer（導演／編劇）
湯泰華在1965年生於德國的伍珀塔爾Wuppertal，自小熱愛電影，11那年便製作了首齣超八電影。隨?兩齣短片＜Because＞（1990）及＜Epilog＞（1992）後，他於1993年攝製了首齣正規時間電影＜Deadly Maria＞，並且廣獲好評。1994年，湯泰華與Stefan Arndt、Wolfgang Becker和Dani Levy成立了X Filme Creative Pool電影製作公司。
他的第二齣電影＜Winter Sleepers＞於1996年公映，一樣好評如潮；但最受歡迎的相信是1998年的＜疾走羅拉＞。其後，他的＜The Princess and Princess and the Warrior＞被選為威尼斯影展的入圍作品，並於2001年贏得Silver German Film Award的「最佳電影」獎。他的上一齣作品＜疾走天堂＞被選為2002年柏林影展的開幕電影。
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上映日期 : Jan 25, 2007
官方網址 : www.parfum.film.de (德國)
www.goldenscene.com (香港)
發行 : Golden Scene Co Ltd.
CONTENTS IN BRIEF
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (BEN WHISHAW) is born in undignified circumstances at the Paris fish market in 1738. At a very early age he realises he has a very refined sense of smell. After surviving the murderous working conditions of the tannery in his youth, Grenouille starts an apprenticeship at the perfumery of Baldini (DUSTIN HOFFMAN). He soon surpasses his master at the art of mixing scents, but they also become his obsession, an obsession that drives him away from human company. Possessed by the idea of preserving human aromas, he unscrupulously murders young women whose scent turns his head. The drama takes its course when Grenouille meets the beautiful Laura (RACHEL HURD-WOOD), who for him has a supernatural kind of scent, on the way to the perfume metropolis, Grasse. While further unexplained murders occur, Laura's father, the merchant Richis (ALAN RICKMAN), suspects that his daughter's life is also in great danger. A real cat-and-mouse game of close fatherly love and deadly passion begins...
Bernd Eichinger and Tom Tykwer have made a film adaptation of Patrick Suskind's gripping worldwide bestseller for Constantin Film. The script was written by Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger and Tom Tykwer. The film stars the 25-year-old British shooting star Ben Whishaw (MY BROTHER TOM, ENDURING LOVE), megastar and OscarRwinner Dustin Hoffman (RAIN MAN, MEET THE FOCKERS), Alan Rickman (HARRY POTTER, DIE HARD) and new talent Rachel Hurd-Wood.
PRESS INFORMATION ON THE ORIGINAL
The life story of the brilliant and murderous perfumer Jean-Baptiste Grenouille first appeared in early 1985, published by the Swiss Diogenes Verlag, and brought author Patrick Suskind (who also wrote "Der Kontrabas"/"The Double Bass" and the scripts for "Kir Royal" and "Rossini oder die morderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief"/"Rossini or The murderous question of who slept with whom"), who was born in Ambach by Lake Starnberg in 1949, sensational worldwide success. "Perfume" was Number One for 15 weeks in the "Spiegel" bestseller charts and spent 449 consecutive weeks in the "Buchreport" bestseller charts. It sold over 15 million copies worldwide, 4 million of which were sold in German alone. The gripping novel was translated into 45 languages - there was even an edition in Latin. Since 1994, Diogenes has also been publishing "Perfume" in paperback, as part of the detebe series. "Perfume" is the most successful German language novel since Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front". The Munich producer Bernd Eichinger obtained the rights to the film in 2001.
SYNOPSIS
1766. The city of Grasse, South of France.
A crowd has gathered in the town square to witness the sentencing of the perfume maker, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (BEN WHISHAW). The mob erupts when he is dragged, in shackles, to the citadel balcony, roaring in approval when the death sentence is announced.
22 years earlier. Paris.
Grenouille's mother (BIRGIT MINICHMAYR) gives birth to him in the stench of the Paris fish market on the hottest day of the year. She tries to hide the unwanted child among the fish entrails cast under the gutting table of her stall. But the newborn, as if out of sheer spite, gives out a horrible scream and is saved by a passer-by. The mother is carted off by the authorities and hanged for the attempted murder of her child.
Grenouille spends the first years of his life in the orphanage of Madame Gaillard (SIAN THOMAS). The other children know that there is something strange about the infant and try to smother him on the eve of his arrival. But Mme. Gaillard will not be denied the subsidy she receives by housing the orphan, and saves him. By the age of six, though he does not talk, it is apparent that Grenouille possesses a phenomenal sense of smell. He crawls around the grounds of the orphanage, learning to experience the world around him through his olfactory prowess. For ten francs Madame Gaillard sells the now 13-year-old Grenouille to Grimal (SAM DOUGLAS), who owns a tannery. The work in the tanning pits, filled with stinking nitrates and rotting hides, is extremely hazardous, but the boy survives the hellish conditions and grows into a young man.
On his first visit to Paris, amidst the melange of city odors, the wind carries the most exquisite aroma Grenouille has ever experienced. He ecstatically follows the scent through the moonlit streets and alleyways to its source, the beautiful plum girl (KAROLINE HERFURTH). The girl senses a sudden chill in the air and turns to find Grenouille's eyes staring into hers. She is about to scream as Grenouille covers her mouth with his hand and drags her into the shadows to avoid a couple passing by. From the darkness, he watches them kiss, as the girl struggles for air. At last the couple turn the corner and Grenouille finally releases his hand to discover that he has killed the girl. He desperately tries to capture her scent, to drink it and cup it in his hands as if it were liquid. But her irresistible odor fades as the life ebbs from her body and Grenouille is filled with an overwhelming sense of loss for her vanished aroma. His life's work must be to capture it again.
Grenouille apprentices himself to the perfumer Baldini (DUSTIN HOFFMAN), a man whose business is failing and is desperate for a new "signature" scent. Grenouille quickly shows his prowess at creating fragrances of perfection that will restore Baldini's reputation. In exchange, he asks the old master to teach him the art of capturing and preserving scents. When he learns that the scent of a living being cannot be distilled into an essence, Grenouille nearly dies of dismay. Baldini tells him that the only place where the mysterious method of enfleurage (the extraction of a flower's essential oil) is being used is in the town of Grasse. He can find the knowledge he seeks there.
Grenouille sets off for Grasse immediately. En route, he discovers, in a cave in the Massif Central, that he has no odor of his own, as if he doesn't exist. This experience shakes him to the core and he decides to create a scent for himself that is irresistible.
On the road to Grasse, a carriage carrying a merchant's beautiful daughter Laura (RACHEL HURD-WOOD) passes him by. Grenouille sniffs the air. There it is again, that fatally wonderful scent which only once before in his life had he encountered. A scent he must possess...
Grenouille signs on as a journeyman with Madame Arnulfi (CORINNA HARFOUCH), who owns a small perfume workshop. He is given a meager stipend and a windowless hut in which to sleep. He sets about to master the art of enfleurage and be able to capture any scent he desires.
In the ensuing weeks, young, exceptionally beautiful girls are being murdered. The merchant Richis (ALAN RICKMAN) is the only one who suspects that the fiend is obsessed, a collector of beauty. When the pretty twin daughters of his friend Tallien (GUILLERMO AYESA) are murdered and found naked with their heads shaved, Richis starts to fear greatly for his own daughter, Laura.
Twelve girls have now been found dead. Grenouille opens a small cabinet and gazes at twelve tiny glass flacons, each filled with but a few drops of amber-colored oil. He is missing only one scent, one final note, to complete his perfume.
Panic builds as citizens bar their doors and nail their windows shut. A suspect is arrested for the murders but Richis is convinced that the authorities have the wrong man. Under cover of night, he flees the town with his daughter and takes her to the safety of an obscure seaside inn. But Grenouille follows Laura's scent as far as the Mediterranean. The next morning, when Richis finds the body of his daughter, naked with her locks shorn, he collapses in despair.
Grenouille kneels by a small fire in the forest, where he has set up his equipment. A final bead of oil drops from an alembic spout into a small flacon. He mixes this final oil together with the other twelve. He sniffs the air in all directions, sensing danger, as he hides the perfume bottle in his pocket. He is surrounded by soldiers and taken into custody. Back in Grasse, he freely confesses to his crimes, but remains silent about his motives.
A huge crowd flocks to the main square in Grasse on the day of the execution, but Grenouille secretly manages to pour a few drops of his perfume onto his wrist. The wind carries the scent to the onlookers in the square and the entire crowd melts into a gigantic, orgiastic embrace. Even Richis, sobbing for forgiveness, throws his arms around his daughter's slayer. Grenouille, who has never experienced love in his life, is overwhelmed. He returns to Paris, to the place of his birth. In his pocket he has his creation, a flacon of the world's most valuable perfume...
GENESIS
Producer Bernd Eichinger read the novel when it was first published in 1985. He immediately approached the author Patrick Suskind, to obtain the film rights. "It was such a unique story, powerful on so many levels. I sensed that it would make an extraordinary film." But Suskind would not sell to anyone. The book remained on many illustrious filmmakers' wish-lists for years, with Suskind refusing all offers. His reluctance to sell the rights became legend.
"I thought it would be particularly easy because we were friends", Eichinger remembers, "but Suskind didn't want to sell at the time". By 1986, a year after the novel was published it had already become a worldwide best-seller. "PERFUME" has been translated into 45 languages and is the second most successful German language novel of all time (the first being Remarque's war drama "All Quiet on the Western Front".) Not only were there regular requests from Eichinger's offices to the publisher, but also from prominent colleagues. "At that time, in the mid-eighties, Suskind didn't want to sell the rights at all", Bernd Eichinger remembers today. "And he maintained this position for quite a long time. "I just don't think Suskind could imagine who could really adapt this complex material." Perfume director Tom Tykwer adds.
But stamina pays, especially in the fast-moving film business, and when Eichinger asked again in 2000, Suskind finally gave in and Eichinger, at long last, got the rights to bring "Perfume" to the screen. "When I became aware that he was no longer saying 'No, no', but 'Maybe', I asked the publishing house one more time. They explained to me that Patrick definitely did not want to be involved in any potential film project. It was a similar case to THE NAME OF THE ROSE when Eco didn't want to actively participate in the film project either. But to cut a long story short: we were finally able to reach an agreement and I got the rights", Eichinger summarises.
Then Tom Tykwer entered the picture - for Eichinger the ideal director for this magnum opus, one of the most expensive German-made film productions ever. "It was clear from the outset that Tom and I wanted to make a modern film. Tom is an extremly innovative director who is not afraid of experimenting, but still likes to construct a film around a classical framework. And in the end, the film looks exactly the same under his directorship as I had always imagined it."
The film was promoted by the regional promoters "FilmFernsehFonds Bayern" and "Bayerischer Bankenfonds", the "FFA" (the Film Promotion Institution), the "Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen" and "Eurimages". "The film is a European co-production in accordance with the European Convention with the Spanish, the French, a private cofinancing contribution plus a co-production contribution from a media fund. But our film could hardly be more German: the author is German, the director is German and the producer is German. Only the cast is international", summarises Eichinger.
PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER was financed by the independent German film company, Constantin Film, with whom Eichinger has close links - he was formerly its CEO and supervisory board chairman - Swiss entrepreneur and patron Gigi Oeri, (investing in a film project for the first time) and the Munich-based VIP Medienfonds. "I heard that Gigi Oeri was interested in investing in a film - in particular this film. Thanks to her financial contribution we were able to maintain our independence and stay true to our vision and it also gave us the possibility to obtain a contract with Dreamworks for the US-Market, which had always been the ideal scenario for us.", Eichinger explains.
"The problem is also, of course, that the main character doesn't express himself. A novelist can use narrative to compensate for this; that's not possible in film. An audience can usually only get a feeling for a character if the character speaks. Our biggest problem was therefore a narrative one", says Eichinger, explaining the difficulties in drafting the script. "I'd met with many international directors and screenwriters - I didn't think of a German initially. But I couldn't find any consensus with them on the question of what kind of film it should actually turn out to be. It was a lot easier with my previous projects - we reached an agreement quickly, such as with Jean-Jacques Annaud with THE NAME OF THE ROSE or Bille August with THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS. It was much more difficult with PERFUME, because we had to go right to the basics of narrative. Although many directors showed great interest, none of them could tell me how a potential movie would actually have to look. It all remained very vague."
A critically acclaimed screenwriter in his own right, Eichinger wrote the screenplay for his OscarR nominated German film, DOWNFALL. He chose Andrew Birkin to help him bring his vision of PERFUME to the screen in English. Birkin had been one of the writers on Eichinger's screen version of THE NAME OF THE ROSE, and Bernd had produced Birkin's directorial outings, SALT ON OUR SKIN and THE CEMENT GARDEN. Eichinger continues, "Then Andrew Birkin came. We both started drafting the script. The big question of who could be the director came up again. With material like this it is especially important for a director to get involved in the script. Usually, a story is constructed in which a hero goes through a catharsis and as a rule comes out of it a different person. If you take SILENCE OF THE LAMBS as a comparison, where Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter play off each other, in PERFUME we only have Lecter."
Although a Hannibal Lecter does kill out of a passion of a kind, Grenouille carries out his murders from a sober necessity in order to complete his 'work of art'. Eichinger remembers that after a great many meetings in search of the best director, the decision in favor of Tykwer, who received international acclaim with his highly original film RUN LOLA RUN and the cryptic drama HEAVEN, was "very easy to make". And there were two reasons in particular for this: "Tom is incredibly innovative as an artist on the one hand, and on the other he also has a very popular approach as a filmmaker. He was already giving the right answers in our very first discussions. That's why we decided to work on the script together, so that we could get to know each other better. But at some point it was clear to us that he should become the director too".
Over the course of the next two years, the trio continued to hone the screenplay adaptation. For Tykwer, the adaptation was "a great challenge, since the novel is extremely complex, a strangely intimate epic. I suppose an important attraction for me was that there's an underlying theme in the book that is similar to those in my previous films. Here, too, we have a central character fighting for recognition and love, trying to draw attention to himself because he longs for a real human connection. Longing for connection is a theme in all my films." The co-writer/director also had another challenge: "I find so many period films boring, so my aim from the outset was to make one that was really modern in terms of film language but still remained true to its historical obligations, in the same way the novel's modern narrative is never sacrificed to its historical accuracy."
Eichinger appreciates that Tykwer is a "conservative filmmaker who likes to experiment nonetheless and has great visionary power. This is exactly what you need for such a project, one in which you won't get far with the usual dramaturgical tricks. It's not only narrative, but associative procedure that is crucial to PERFUME. And it is extremely rare for me to take this line of procedure in one of my films. I would usually concentrate on the narrative and leave little room for association. But in our case I had to take an associative line in order to bridge the narrative gaps. In dramaturgical terms, this movie violates every rule."
Producer Eichinger is known for taking on difficult material and adapting it for the screen. THE NAME OF THE ROSE, the "professor's novel" had been considered inadaptable by many. Eichinger's award winning screen version went on to break box office records around the world.
What impressed Eichinger most about the novel was the truly amoral protagonist Grenouille, who acts "without any idea of ethics but also without any love, any feelings of responsibility or human grace. You would not see a character like this in 99.9% of regular movies", concludes Eichinger. "So it's not a question of identifying with him, but, rather, of understanding his motives. We needed to write this character in a way that an audience would be fascinated by his obsession. If you can understand his obsession, you're into the character and the movie. This was by far more important to me than the question of how to portray odors within a cinematic framework."
Once the screenplay was finished, Eichinger and Tykwer began a meticulous preparation period with the engagement of three key creative crew members. First on board were cinematographer, Frank Griebe; production designer, Uli Hanisch; and costume designer, Pierre-Yves Gayraud. Cinematographer Griebe, multiple winner of the German Film Award (for RUN LOLA RUN amongst others), has shot all of Tom Tykwer's films. Hanisch, German Film Award winner in the category of production design (for Oliver Hirschbiegel's THE EXPERIMENT) has set the scenic tone on many of Tykwer's projects. Gayraud designed the costumes for Tykwer's award winning short, TRUE, having met the director through RUN LOLA RUN star, Franka Potente, whom he dressed in THE BOURNE IDENTITY.
While the decision to take on Alan Rickman as the cunning merchant Richis and Dustin Hoffman as Grenouille's master Baldini came easily, the search for a suitable Grenouille was difficult at first. "So many people have read this book, so we had to find an actor that wasn't only suitable for us, but who could also fulfill the expectations all former readers and future cinemagoers would have of him", explains Tykwer. "Although there were many willing actors, it only really seemed plausible to choose someone for this role who was completely unknown. You could also say a "nobody" who is to become a "somebody" - because that's what the story is about too. I then saw, on someone's recommendation, Ben Wishaw as Hamlet in Trevor Nunn's production at the Old Vic in London, and felt immediately: I've got him! There followed an audition, which immediately convinced Bernd of Ben's potential as well."
By contrast, getting the multi-OscarR winning Dustin Hoffman to play Baldini was a simple agreement between friends. "I had always wanted to get him for a part. Furthermore, we are good friends. Dustin also wanted to work with me after he saw RUN LOLA RUN. When I took on this project I knew straight away that there was no one who could play Baldini better. It simply had to work because there's no way I could have accepted anyone else playing the part", says Tykwer, laughing. It was also relatively easy to set up the relationship between Hoffman/Baldini and Whishaw/Grenouille in dramaturgical terms. "With these two we had found the perfect constellation: on the one hand, the icon of the modern Hollywood movie and on the other the unknown talent who is about to break loose. Which also fits in nicely with the plot of the film."
The third protagonist in the group was played by the experienced stage and film actor Alan Rickman. Here, too, the decision was far from difficult: "Alan was also my first choice as Richis - we didn't offer the role to anyone else. I wanted to give Richis ambiguity because he is, in the book and the film, someone who cuts himself off from his fellow citizens, has a sharp mind and strong intuition and an idolatrous love for his daughter", recapitulates Tykwer on the theme of the cast, which is completed by Rachel Hurd-Wood, born in 1990 in London, who plays the daughter who is admired to the point of obsession by both Richis and Grenouille.
But there are also some German actors in important supporting roles. Eichinger says in this context: "We did extensive casting in the United States, England and Germany. And it is the case that even a four-minute performance that fails is enough to ruin an entire film. So if you don't know someone very well indeed it could end in a catastrophe. Supporting roles are incredibly important, which is why I make a special effort to find actors I can rely on for the supporting roles. That applied to Birgit Minichmayr, who played Grenouille's mother and with whom I'd previously worked, and also to Jessica Schwarz as Natalie or Corinna Harfouch (who gave a stunning performance as Frau Goebbels in DOWNFALL) as Madame Arnulfi." But the choice of Karoline Herfurth to play the plum girl was, according to Eichinger, a "last minute decision" because a suitable actress couldn't be found. "And not even in England or the United States. And then I suddenly thought: wait a minute - let's have a look at who we have in Germany. And I had already made two films with Karoline. The final decision was made when we did a test, in costume and with the right hair color, together with Ben Whishaw, at which Karoline really proved herself. So we decided to expand her role."
The spectacular shooting took place from 12 July to 16 October 2005; the first 15 days was spent entirely on the largest stage of Bavaria Studios in Munich, shooting the scenes between Baldini and Grenouille in the former's workshop. The remaining scenes, including the Paris fish market and the events in the "perfume city" of Grasse, were shot in Spain, specifically in Barcelona, Girona and Figueras. Tykwer was in command of a crew of up to 350 and a total of 5200 extras, sometimes with nearly a thousand at once - a massive effort of logistics.
An accomplished musician, Tykwer has scored all of his films. Together with his band mates, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil he wrote the score for PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER. Post-production took place in Munich and was finalized in the summer of 2006.
THE MAKING OF "PERFUME"
Introduction
"It was a bit crazy at times, standing ankle-deep in fish entrails, giving instructions in four languages with nearly a thousand extras around me," laughs Tykwer. To him, "one simply has to acknowledge that everything depends on very well-planned logistics."
"Logistics" was the magic word during these shoots. The shooting took place largely between 12 July and 16 October 2005 in Munich (Bavaria Studios) and Spain (Barcelona, Girona and Figueres). It was all kicked off at the end of June with a 3-day trip to the Provence to film some landscapes (e.g. for the lavender fields that are important for manufacturing the perfume). Tykwer was in charge of a crew of up to 350 and a total of 5200 extras that breathed life into over 100 motifs and supported 67 actors. But this project was, for cast and crew alike, a real road movie, just as the protagonist, Grenouille, is constantly on the move as part of the plot and moves from the gloomy city of Paris southwards towards Grasse, near the Cote d'Azur.
Director Tom Tykwer was not daunted by the budget, which was extraordinarily high for a European production: "This kind of sum is more or less beyond normal thinking anyway. When you finally get started on the filming, you only see the structural connections and therefore all the people involved in it. Because all this money mostly has to be channeled into the manpower. The set costs are relatively low by comparison. This then puts the whole madness that such a major project unleashes into perspective."
"In any case, you won't be seeing a normal costume movie", adds producer Bernd Eichinger. "The film has an expensive look to it. The audience will see pictures that have not been seen in this way before. But the biggest danger is drifting off towards a conventional costume movie. Since this is a modern film, the actors must also wear their costumes as they would their everyday clothes. Authenticity is one thing, but you need a modern approach as well. A bit like THE NAME OF THE ROSE, which is also set in the Middle Ages but is not just a costume film either. A film must be able to stand as an independent work of art, and in order to achieve this an author has to be able to find new approaches. THE GODFATHER didn't become a movie classic because it stuck faithfully to the book, it became one because it was an innovative piece of filmmaking."
Handwork
Tykwer elaborates, "From the outset, we've established the story in an intense reality that will immediately bridge the gap to an initially alien 18th century. We wanted to make a film that had maximum traction; the audience should concentrate on the story right from the start, without being distracted by the appeal of the background, impressive as it may be." Well-founded research proved to be the key to achieving that goal.
The two people mainly responsible for the research were Tykwer's old comrade-in-arms Uli Hanisch and the French costume designer, Pierre-Yves Gayraud. "In the beginning, all our time was spent studying paintings, literature and scholarly works concerning 18th century France during the reign of Louis XV", says production designer Hanisch. "The aim was to become familiar enough with this particular Rococo period to be able to use it with ease as a background for the film's story-line." "In historical terms, the 18th century is less familiar to us than the 19th, the industrial age when electricity and big machines gradually started to dominate everyday life", explains Hanisch. In addition to this, the filmmakers had to familiarize themselves with the largely secret methods of perfume manufacture - those methods that were used in pre-industrial times, before modern, high-performance laboratories existed. The researchers also gained an insight into the health-endangering handcraft, which nearly destroyed the young Grenouille both in the novel and the script, at a tannery in Germany that still processes leather using largely the traditional methods.
The story is set in Paris and the south of France, from the 1730s to the 1760s. The filmmakers needed to learn about this era, what "Louis Quinze" signified, what drove the social mechanisms, how people behaved and what they believed in. "The most interesting thing for me about the novel was that the author, Patrick Suskind, did not describe the life of the time so much from the high society angle. There is, of course, the rich and noble world of Richis the merchant, with fine clothes and big social gatherings, but this world, mostly viewed from the outside by Grenouille, makes up only about five percent of the film. The book and the film are more concerned with the historical reality from "below", so to speak, i.e. the lower and middle classes from the mid-18th century ", recapitulates Tykwer.
For department heads Hanisch, Tykwer and Griebe (RUN LOLA RUN, BERLIN BLUES among others, winner of the German Film Award), this pre-industrial 18th century, in which both book and film are set has, during their research, transformed itself into an epoch that resembles more the dark, Middle Ages. On the one hand this is due to the fact that there was a lack of adequate lighting available at the time and on the other because of the story-line itself. "Our film has a distinctly dark aesthetic to it and tells the story of a shadowy figure. We oriented ourselves towards painters that specialized in darkness with few sources of light, such as Caravaggio, Joseph Wright of Derby and Rembrandt. The people of the time had only a candle to light their world. Outside that light source, their universe was totally black," says Tykwer.
It would then also be wholly unsuitable for the costumes of the time, especially those of the lower classes, to be bright and gleaming. "We put great value on PERFUME not being a sterile film, for which an ambitious tailor had made the clothes with great precision and the actors had only put these clothes on five minutes before the shooting started", says Tykwer. The crew was complemented by the French costume designer Pierre-Yves Gayraud. Gayraud designed the costumes for Tykwer's award winning short, TRUE, having met the director through RUN LOLA RUN star, Franka Potente, whom he dressed in THE BOURNE IDENTITY. He was already something of an authority on 18th century French fashion, prior to joining the project. "As far back as a year before shooting started, I spent 15 weeks on research. I devoured a great number of books, essays, and illustrations of the day. I prepared a costume storyboard for all the sequences." He had to delve into the individual qualities of each of the film's characters. The odorless outsider, Grenouille, for example, required a specific palette and texture. "Since we wanted to show Grenouille as a shadow, a chameleon, he did not get any whites, and the cut of his mostly blue over-garments had to be maintained throughout the film. This made it easier for him to remain "invisible" in the dim periphery of his world." Gayraud chose to dress Rachel Hurd-Wood, who plays Laura, the merchant's innocent daughter, not in the colorful regional dress that was the tradition of the time, but rather, in the less vivid tones of a Parisian demoiselle, thus highlighting her social aspirations as well as her glorious red hair.
Then, Gayraud had the unenviable task of procuring appropriate fabric for the clothes and finding a location for carrying out the tailoring. The production decided to go to Rumania, where most of the necessary materials were purchased. Within three months, over 1400 costumes (in addition to shoes, hats and other accessories) were prepared by workshops in and around Bucharest and sent to the film location. But none of the items of clothing were to look new: "Our clothes had to look dirty and sweaty because the characters wearing them stank too. As soon as the clothing was ready, the first thing we did was to make them totally worn and dirty. This breaking-down procedure was undoubtedly the heaviest work of the entire costume-making process", grins Tykwer. Additionally, the actors were required to don the costumes and more or less live in them prior to shooting. Tykwer says: "In this way, the actors got to know every stitch of what they were wearing."
This costume break-down was also intended to help make the 18th century odors (an essential component of the original novel) "visible" for the film medium. "Literature must, of course, always work with the transfer of senses, since a book does not normally smell." But for Tykwer, film has just as valid "a language as literature. For this reason, our film "universe" needed to be palpable, tangible. That means that the audience must really experience everything through Grenouille directly, from the moment of his birth in the filth of the Paris fish market", says Tykwer.
Eichinger answers the most obvious question, how to cinematically portray Grenouille's olfactory genius, as follows: "You cannot make the sense of smell visibly palpable on film. And the book doesn't smell either. Suskind's gift is in his ability to let his readers, through language, experience Grenouille's world, which is revealed solely through his sense of smell. We have done the same with a different language, one composed of sound, music, dialogue and, of course, image. Take, for example, a meadow in early spring light. If you shoot and edit it right, you get not just an atmospheric impression; you can "smell" it, too. Another example of this is seen everyday in coffee commercials. Here, too, hardly any special effects are used -it's usually just a steaming cup of frothy coffee. But at some point the viewer's subconscious triggers the impression that the coffee actually "smells". So we undertook a great deal to support this idea. If you film a meadow in sunlight or a single flower, it only takes great optical precision to actually capture their odors in images."
The next step for Tykwer and Eichinger was to decide on where to build the more than 100 sets required to bring the complex plot to life. Requirements ran the gamut from the filthiest place on earth (the Paris fish market of 1750) to one of the most lovely (Grasse, the sunny, fragrant city in the south of France.)
Croatia was considered first, for its earthy scenery and pristine old-world towns. The filmmakers also discussed the obvious - shooting the movie in its original settings in France, but found modern day Paris and Grasse far too distant to allow for quick location moves. But in Spain, they were to find a veritable El Dorado in terms of location. Enough streets and squares were identified in Barcelona, Girona and Figueras, (all within a 125 mile radius) which, while not completely authentic, could be converted to "Louis Quinze" with reasonable effort. The mayor of Barcelona was extremely cooperative and mounted an official hospitality campaign to support the production. An entire week was spent on the scene in which Grenouille appears before the crowd that has come to witness his execution. The Pueblo Espanol, a popular open air museum, presented the perfect location for this extraordinary sequence in which 750 extras were supported by 40 make-up and 35 wardrobe assistants.
It is the spectacular finale of the film: thousands of people filled with hate are awaiting Grenouille's execution, but when he finally gets out of the coach and appears in front of them, their feelings change - triggered by Grenouille's perfume - first to surprised sympathy, then affection, then admiration, and finally uninhibited devotion. The scene ends in an ecstatic scene of love, in which all the people on the town square fall over each other, take off their clothes and merge in one gigantic erotic embrace. "This was an impossible task in terms of emotional dramaturgy, because whether the development of feelings that should be shown here would be convincing depended on hundreds of inexperienced extras: they had to portray this incredible transformation in their faces and bodies - plausibly. So the question for me was: 'How do we do this?'" recalls Tom Tykwer. "I always imagined this sequence as a kind of choreography, almost like an emotional dance performance - but as natural as possible at the same time, of course". Then Tykwer thought of one of Europe's most famous dance theatre groups, "La Fura dels Baus", who were based in Barcelona, and since he had been an admirer of their work for many years, he called them up on the spot - and was immediately greeted with enthusiasm. "La Fura"'s project leader, Jurgen Muller, and his assistant Lluis Fuster, recruited about 50 "key players" from their ensemble, added about 100 relatively experienced talents to them - young actors and experienced extras - and were able to set up the core of this massive crowd with this "center group" of about 150 performers. The remaining 600 extras were finally arranged around this key group in detailed rehearsals - and led towards creating a scene in which they not only had to show strong emotions but also take off each other's clothes and finally embrace each other. Taking off the awkward historical clothing alone required a great deal of individual practice so that it didn't appear too complicated in front of the camera. Not to mention the challenge to all those taking part in what was to follow... "These 750 people who gave us this extraordinary performance were a miracle - like another great lead actor in the movie", says Tykwer. "And 'La Fura dels Baus' made an incredible contribution to helping us capture the amazing explosion of this intoxication in the movie."
Dirt
"PERFUME - THE STORY OF A MURDERER" is, crazily enough, a road movie, because Grenouille is on the road the whole time and changes from station to station", says director Tom Tykwer when describing the spatial structure of the plot. "Grenouille goes from the orphanage to the tannery in Paris, then to his master, Baldini. Then he goes into the mountains, disappears in a cave and finally migrates to Grasse, where the murder story really starts. The film is unique because of these many motifs, because all the motifs presented in the novel had to be created specially in order to recreate the 18th century in detail. Because there was nothing there!" So all, "and really all" of the buttons for the upper class clothing in the film had to be hand-painted in the design of the time. Or the preparation of more than a thousand perfume flagons, which were also filled by hand with a colored liquid - not real perfume, of course. Additionally, 150 flagons were also made especially for the scenes in the perfumery bearing romantic names such as "Amor and Psyche" or "Night in Naples".
In the late summer of 2005, Executive in Charge of Production, Christine Rothe, gave the mandate to convert Barcelona's historic town center, the Barri Gotic, into the "dirtiest spot in the filthiest metropolis of 18th century Europe" - the Paris fish market. In addition to this, 350 crew members spent 29 days in Barcelona recreating the streets and alleyways of Paris, including Pelissier's perfume shop, where Grenouille has his first experience of bottled scent. The city also doubled for Grasse, including Richis' villa, the cathedral, and the great town square where Grenouille was to be executed.
100 people were charged with the actual set construction. Anything too modern in Barcelona's "Gothic Quarter" was covered by massive latex constructions stretched over houses in order to hide unsuitable items such as electric cables or modern window frames. The latex was then aged and dressed to match the existing old buildings. But all these mammoth efforts in terms of manpower and equipment were nothing in comparison to what filmmaker Tom Tykwer also wanted to achieve. "Tom wanted a realistic film and not a costume show", confirms his costume designer Pierre-Yves Gayraud somewhat apologetically, and for this reason Tykwer did not stop at the deliberate spoiling of over 100 costumes. There was an actual "dirt unit" comprised of about 60 young helpers who used buckets and hoses to distribute various sorts of detritus all over the city - and who, at the end of the day, had to remove it all without leaving a trace. Looking back, Tykwer had nothing but fondness for his 'dirty work': "Those crazy days were wonderful, when we transformed Barcelona's beautifully restored city square into the dirty, stinking Paris fish market." To start with, 2.5 tons of fish and one ton of meat had to be dispersed across the square, leaving a stench that could be smelled for miles. The tons of filth that were spread out by the 'Dirt Unit' had to be cleared away on the same day. The production fouled up entire stretches of road but could only shoot there from 8 until noon. The extras, for their part, had to report to make-up and wardrobe, (donning wigs, bad teeth and all) at one in the morning, because the process would take more than six hours. The Spanish extras had been briefed on their respective craftsman's skills for the film. They were either real professionals, such as fishmongers, or had learned skills specifically for their roles.
For the team around make-up and hair designer Waldemar Pokromski the challenge was to create authenticity and intensity. "Because the make-up is mostly too nice at first - it's how the artists have learned it, after all", says Tykwer with the wink of an eye. What helped was then wiping the makeup across the face, ruffling hair or deliberately rumpling clothes.
In addition to the 29 days in Barcelona, the crew also spent 8 days in nearby Girona and 15 in Dali's town of Figueras. Both locations are in the northeastern corner of Spain, not far from the Pyrenean border with France. Several mountain and forest scenes were shot in the environs of Girona. Girona also provided the location of the home and studio of Mme. Arnulfi, from whom Grenouille learns the intricate art of enfleurage, the extraction of the flowers' precious essential oil. The picturesque Castell de San Ferran in Figures provided a variety of sets including Grimal's noxious tannery and the Paris city gates. Its dungeon served its original purpose for scenes with the captured Grenouille. Even the cave in the French Massif Central in which Grenouille makes the discovery that he has no scent of his own, was recreated in Figueras.
During the 52 days in Spain, less than half a working day on average could be used for each of the 100 sets and locations. But despite this, the crew (apart from the execution sequence) did not spend more than three days on any single set, according to Executive in Charge of Production Christine Rothe. Shooting the entire film in the studio was not an option for Tykwer and Eichinger right from the outset. "Constructing over a hundred sets in the studio would have cost us about ten times as much. We had so many: 65 exteriors and countless rooms - all that would have been too expensive. I also wanted to use live locations for the exteriors, to capture the reality that we were looking for", reports Tykwer.
Producer Bernd Eichinger's response to the question of how to manage the available budget was as follows: "The important thing is to work with economical intelligence, not to shoot too much that can't be used later. You have to get the money you have available onto the screen and not unnecessarily extend the shoot schedule. A smart, economically operated production does not have so much to do with the question of money as with professionalism and an eye for the big picture. That starts with the script, where sensible shots and scenes have to be planned. So the question is: what do I really need for a film, and what don't I need?"
Art
Dustin Hoffman and Ben Whishaw had a week of rehearsal and a crash course in the art of perfume-making prior to their two-week shoot at Bavaria Studios in Munich. Their scenes were shot in sequence, allowing the actors to follow the natural progression of their characters' relationship. The workshop of the venerable perfumery master Baldini (Hoffman) was constructed at Bavaria Studios in Munich and principal photography commenced there in July 2005.
Tykwer already had another, historically established, duet in mind when he first read the novel: "The dynamic of Baldini's workshop has many similarities to the competition between Salieri and Mozart. The young Mozart, with his vivacious and feather-light artistic skill, drove the old master Salieri totally apoplectic. In PERFUME, too, an old master denigrates his younger student and quickly discovers that he has an absolute genius in front of him who is vastly his superior. This finishes him off, and these energies can be found everywhere. And this big, ten-minute "mixing duel" between the old master and the budding apprentice is charged in the same way," Tykwer continues. "Dustin, who was not previously familiar with the novel, was able to shape this psychological transfer, in which the pupil becomes the teacher, to perfection. He did, of course, exercise massive dominance over his pupil as the 'Zampano' Baldini, but in the course of shooting in sequence, the power of Ben/Grenouille slowly but surely came to the fore."
The decision to engage the multiple OscarR winner for the role of Baldini was not only a stroke of luck for the dramaturgy, but for the entire shooting as well. "Dustin is highly charged and loves the work in an almost childlike, playful way. That is an unbeatable quality that creates an incredible freedom. The crew loved him; he got to know all the people quickly. This all creates great warmth and affection. He made it clear to all of us that we should be happy to work in a field in which a handful of people can have such an intense artistic experience, that a film shoot is a kind of manic group experience of a conspiratorial society. Dustin's gave his film character everything: the humor, mixed with fragility and narcissism and a whole lot of warmth and cordiality too." says Tykwer.
Hoffman's acting partner, Ben Whishaw, has also experienced inspiring days with Hoffman: "It was incredible how he made the atmosphere on the set so light and pleasurable. I think he knows exactly how important it is to be able to enjoy your work. Dustin certainly gave me the feeling that you should always approach your work with a certain confident lack of respect so that you can take a break any time it's threatening to get on top of you."
The young English actor Ben Whishaw has this to say of his director: "Working with Tom is brilliant. As far as I can see, he just lives and breathes movies. I have never known a director who so honestly listens to his actors and doesn't just pretend. He's really interested in what you have to say. At the same time, he is incredibly helpful and always open to other people's ideas." And about producer Bernd Eichinger: "I had quite a few butterflies with Bernd for a while, because I knew that PERFUME was one of his life's goals and that he's fought 20 years to get it. I saw myself completely obligated to him and knew I mustn't disappoint him under any circumstances. Luckily, my nervousness was completely unnecessary, I truly like him. He's really only interested in doing his project as well as possible. And I respect that."
Tom Tykwer saw Ben Whishaw, who was 23 at the time, playing Hamlet on the stage and was enthralled by his performance. Tom then held rehearsals with him immediately after. "And when he showed me the tapes I also thought this would work. We were dead certain, although Ben was a relatively unknown actor. But he was the right age and also fitted the role of Grenouille in terms of appearance. Ben embodies this precise mixture of charm and mystery."
But there is no way Whishaw could have disappointed Eichinger, because he understood the psychology of his tragic film character, Grenouille, in the same way his producer did: "Grenouille's obsessive passion in manufacturing this shimmering perfume is based on two primary principles: on the one hand, the unconscious desire to be loved and on the other, the fear of being an invisible member of society, this primal human fear of being completely alone in the world. And it is exactly this fear that drives Grenouille."
In order to adjust physically to this strange character, Whishaw studied the physiology of animals in order to find out, as he puts it, the "animal qualities" of Grenouille. "Tom and I looked at different species of animals, including predators such as tigers and leopards. But we found this ancient primate, the loris, which belongs to the lemur family. Despite being incredibly slow moving, it has a demonic hunting nature."
For the director there is no doubt whatsoever that Ben Whishaw was the right man for the job: "We looked first across the world, then specifically in England, at young male actors. Here there were more than 100 men aged between 20 and 35. So many people have read this book. We had to find an actor that was not only suitable for us, but who could also fulfill the image of Grenouille conceived by readers who were already familiar with the character. It became obvious that we needed a newcomer, a clean slate, so to speak. Furthermore, the actor playing Grenouille had to be able to carry the film. We were fortunate to find in Ben an actor who is completely fresh and at the same time, rivetingly talented", says Tykwer confidently.
What Whishaw particularly loves about his compatriot, actor Alan Rickman, who plays Richis, the cunning merchant from Grasse, is his "incredible voice". Rickman can act out a scene "very stringently but at the same time ethereally; he plays with great depth and you must always be aware with him that there are a lot of other things going on below his surface."
Rickman himself has never read the novel; for him the book was a kind of unknown icon. So what was more important in his decision to accept the role was the theory that a film is the exclusive medium of the director and it is, therefore, especially important to work with a "really good" director. "I'm a great admirer of Tom's work. It is so unique that you could imagine you'd be meeting some kind of humorless dictator, with all this artistic stringency. Although Tom is incredibly determined in his work, he is also the most charming, open and selfless person I know. So the atmosphere on the set was enjoyable from start to finish", says Rickman, looking back. And this exceptional actor, known to younger audiences in particular for his portrayal of the inscrutable sorcerer Severus Snape in the HARRY POTTER films, has this to say of Eichinger: "It's extremely rare that you meet a producer that is so well-read and does his work so passionately, helpfully, and eccentrically - all at the same time".
PERFUME director Tom Tykwer was aware of the complexities of his 'Richis': "We needed an absolute counterpart for Grenouille: this meant that the actor should not only play a tender father, but also be an absolutely serious rival for the brilliant killer. Even if one gets the idea that Grenouille is becoming more and more invincible in the second part of the film, Richis develops in such a way that you start to think: 'Maybe he really can get Grenouille.'
Rickman outlines his film character in a few sentences: "Richis is defined purely in terms of his exaggerated love of his daughter. His words, 'You are all I have left' are characteristic for a widower who has to live without his beloved wife. The complete story of this character is basically about someone desperately trying to protect his child from an unknown danger that could be lurking anywhere: in the trees or bushes, in side streets or dark corners and anywhere where people live." Rickman was particularly drawn to PERFUME by this contrast between a glittering, luxurious and clean outerworld, in which Richis and his daughter live, and a shadowy underbelly, rotting beneath the finery of the aristocracy. "Perfume and pleasant smells influence the whole film, both pleasantly and terribly", explains Rickman.
INTERVIEW TOM TYKWER
When did the novel "Perfume" first catch your attention?
I was in my early twenties, at the time when nearly everyone was reading the book. But I was still a bit of a late starter, maybe because I didn't use to be so interested in historical literature, more current literature and the films that went with it. But when I did finally read it I was very impressed by it; the archaic and universal aspects of the story really impressed me.
How did the novel affect you at the time?
Its strongest impressions were sensory ones: the explicit description of filth and garbage in everyday 18th century life, life in an incredibly stinking moloch devoid of light. In general: the darkness. It is a book full of fascinating tableaux and great, dramatic and drastic moments: the birth at the fish market, the discovery of Paris as an olfactory cosmos, the almost tender murders of the idealized victims and of course the spectacular and surprising ending. Suskind's portrayal of the drastic is impressive; it gets to real life itself. But what I liked most - and still like most today - is that the book manages to find an extremely vivid and physically alarming setting for a story that is more tender and tragic in its nature. "Perfume" tells primarily of the catastrophic loneliness of a man who has no experience with love or affection during his adolescent years, and who therefore becomes incapable of dealing with the feelings that stir within him. He escapes to a replacement sensory system, the world of smells, and develops an idiosyncratic model of life from this cosmos in which there is no place for any social patterns, and any idea of morality in general. The meaning of scent for our perception of the world - that is a big, very beautiful and abstract theme. What was also central for me was the picture of the total loneliness of a person surrounded by others; his striving for recognition that is as unconscious as it is helpless and that culminates in a catastrophe. How can I deal with my own apparent insignificance? Suskind has some answers that are as simple as they are shocking.
So - why do you think the book was so successful?
I thought about this question for a long time: how can an abnormal 18th century eccentric fascinate so many readers to such an extent? When I researched into this, I found that many of the people who had taken this book to heart treated it almost like secret treasure whose real secret belonged to them alone. It is a book you prefer to read alone, one you don't talk about in such detail with others, because it is about loneliness and the myth of the unrecognized genius. Grenouille is a tragic hero of loneliness - an outsider who is eccentric and completely inconspicuous at the same time, like a character from Sartre or the protagonist from TAXI DRIVER. These are people that are especially familiar to us because they have an unfulfilled longing for recognition; they want to be perceived in order to experience themselves as really existing - and then they find, usually temporarily, a way out of this misery. Grenouille uses his own extraordinary talent, his spectacular sense of smell, in order to leave the darkness of isolation and enter the light of adulation. Suskind was the first author to put the value of the olfactory in our everyday attitudes to the environment at the center of a classical novel. We all have a very intense and deep relationship with smells. They influence our memory patterns; we experience them as abstract representations of our own history. They form our identity because they subtly guide our behavior in nearly all the contexts of our lives. This all means that this novel is not only a well-researched history novel, but also, and above all, a psychological trip into an internal world that is so familiar to us and yet so barely illuminated. We hardly notice that Suskind makes us a criminal's accomplices and even leads us to hope for his absolution, although at the same time we know that his failure is inevitable. "Perfume" is also a kind of study of the ideology of the aesthetic world. The book is about how we confuse our aesthetic ideals with reality. Today's world, especially in the West, is dominated by the presence of stars and celebrities who represent a system of belief in which the shining foil of a person cements, justifies and even defines their existence. This fallacy is taken apart in Suskind's story and tragically torn to shreds. In Grenouille's time, scents and soap were rarities only available to the rich. Then this simple, inconspicuous man comes along, creates an ultra-scent for himself and becomes a superstar overnight. This is reminiscent of today's star cult, where people disguise themselves and even undergo plastic surgery in the search for a certain ideal - which they frequently don't achieve. "Perfume" is filled with this tragedy.
Although the novel was very well researched, you still had to do quite a lot of research yourself too. In what way does the film differ from the book?
The aspect of having a fantastic and fanatical protagonist turned out to be a hard nut to crack when we were writing, because the recipient is torn between fascination and fear. Having a "genius" at the center of a story is always problematical because you develop a natural distance from him because you don't usually think of yourself as a genius. So the attempt is often made to give the extraordinary character a more average one as a counterpart through whose eyes you view this exotic person. A typical example of this is Milos Forman's film AMADEUS, in which the story of the obsessive genius Mozart is viewed through the eyes of the more average composer Salieri. But Bernd and I still decided to tell Mozart's story without Salieri. We realized that people only condemned Grenouille's deeds externally, but not internally, and that there had to be a way of keeping the interest in and fascination for him alone alive. Andrew Birkin finally showed us how to explore the boundaries of tolerance for a potential audience. Andrew is a hot-blooded researcher, very precise in his research, which is something I really admire. He had a small lab set up in his fridge to find out for himself how enfleurage and the manufacture of scents work. He also succeeded in transposing Suskind's language and unique intonation into the script, to continue them in dialogue form. We spent a long time on this script - I spent more than two years and Andrew and Bernd spent even longer. We also spent a long time in the perfume metropolis of Grasse. Most of the world's most famous "noses" live there, and they have, much like musicians with a perfect sense of hearing, an almost infallible sense of smell. Most of the information from the book and the script comes from such experts.
What traits of character did the actor playing Grenouille have to have for his role?
It was a more or less unsolvable task. He would require this very special combination of the innocent and the cryptic. He would have to be young and yet appear experienced in life. He would have to be relatively unknown and yet still be in a position to bear the weight of a film like this. There is hardly a single scene in "Perfume" without Grenouille in it. Then, after a long, long search, I went to the Old Vic Theatre in London on the advice of the casting agent Michelle Guish to see the 23-year-old Ben Whishaw playing Hamlet and knew immediately: this is the one. Ben is a very intelligent actor who uses his body in a very special way - with a lot of discipline, even ascetically at times. We got on well immediately and spent a lot of time talking and rehearsing to penetrate this role and above all to make it portrayable. Ben is the real stroke of luck as far as this film is concerned. He has made it possible for us to give the audience access to a bizarre character like Grenouille, therefore giving the film its soul.
His opposite is Laura. What did the young actress have to contribute to the film?
Grenouille's projection onto the young women, especially Laura, doesn't have a directly sexual aspect: he idealizes the utopian, unbroken aura that surrounds them. But it still seemed important that the actress playing Laura and the one playing the first victim, the plum girl, should have a sense of knowing about the facts of life and not be inexperienced teenagers. So what we needed was an old soul in a young body. The German Karoline Herfurth is certainly one such person. And the other was the English actress Rachel Hurd-Wood, who embodies a character far above Grenouille's social status and remains completely unobtainable for Grenouille. And we did manage to come very close to this projection described in the book with Rachel. She has an irresistible charm, a playful openness and a lot of charisma too.
How did you get the idea of casting Hoffman as Baldini?
I couldn't have imagined anyone else in this part. For me, Dustin is the quintessential New Hollywood actor. Along with Robert de Niro, he portrayed the most varied of characters in the most films - basically, his characters defined the period. But Dustin also has this special aura in which irony and seriousness meet. He can get a wink out of drama and give weight to comedy, which means there is a constant air of ambiguity. Baldini is an extremely important character in PERFUME because he is the only serious counterpart to Grenouille, who otherwise goes through the film with hardly any interaction at all. On the one hand, Baldini wants to get rich from him, but on the other the "master-apprentice" or "Salieri-Mozart" breaks out. Ben and Dustin got on very well on set but at the same time you could feel this competition among actors, which was wonderful to observe for any onlooker. Dustin has such energy and humor, carried by the sheer joy of acting, and this infected everyone on the set. He always said that there wasn't just one method, but 500. The trick was finding the right one. A lot of the time we just let the camera run and looked for the right nuance as we did so, in other words we tried out a lot of variations on a given expression. That might have seemed chaotic at first sight, but it was incredibly liberating for me because it really gave a playful aspect to the acting.
And how did Alan Rickman as the merchant Richis fit into this dream team?
Alan was also the first choice for the role and also said yes immediately. I don't know anyone who is so filigree with texts as Alan and approaches certain scenes with such sophistication and originality. At the end of "Perfume", the story develops into a duel between two powerful opponents; Grenouille in particular becomes almost unbeatable. That's why it was important for me to create a second figure - Richis - who was pleasant but who was also at least equal to Grenouille. Richis is a widower whose beloved only daughter suddenly finds herself in great danger. He has a great deal of instinct and is the only real threat to Grenouille. I knew we needed somebody who could not only get respect in the context of the plot but also among the audience in a very short time. Alan has real presence and he also feels very comfortable in the costumes from this era. He puts on his clothes and they fit him as if he has never worn anything else. Alan has shown me how important it is for an actor to know whether historical plausibility can be communicated in a film.
The producer, Bernd Eichinger, is one of the great filmmakers, and not only in Germany. How was it working with him?
I don't know - how can I describe Bernd? He's basically crazy - he's signed his soul to filmmaking. He's completely obsessive, but he also has this pragmatic side that always keeps him alert to what is possible, giving him a sense of proportion. You couldn't wish for anything more as a director: a producer who is able to think without any creative restrictions at all and yet is still able to finance everything reasonably and get everything organized. He drives you on but questions at the same time, and his enthusiasm is boundless. You know you have a thoroughbred filmmaker as a partner with Bernd - never just a budgeting administrator. We first met when I was going through a kind of crisis after my short film TRUE and couldn't even imagine making something like PERFUME. But Bernd was full of energy and had tremendous belief in the project. He had a vision of the film that fascinated me. And when I read the novel again I discovered that it was just the right material for me. Before this our paths had hardly crossed at all - Bernd was a kind of myth for me, because he had already made a lot of important films when I was still a teenager. But there was an incredibly creative energy between us right from the start that was based on sympathy and agreement, because we both felt we had a similar film in mind that we wanted to make as radical and popular as possible. This continued throughout the working process. It was also to our advantage that we had a real opportunity to get to know each other well during the long scriptwriting sessions, together with Andrew Birkin. Two years of sitting in a room, listening to each other, smelling each other and having to put up with each other somehow - that made us really strong. This is why our work was dominated by an extraordinary harmony and a mutual vision. And it meant I was able to make the film I'd always dreamed of making.
INTERVIEW BERND EICHINGER
When did you first read the novel "Perfume"?
In the mid-80s I read the book as soon as it was published and wanted to get the rights immediately. Since the author Patrick Suskind is a friend of mine, I didn't think it would be a problem. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case because Suskind didn't want to sell the rights at all at first.
So how hard was it to get the rights?
The problem right from the start was that Patrick didn't want to sell - not only not to me but also not to anyone else either. A lot of people tried to convince him from 1986 onwards - directors and producers. But in 2000, nearly 15 years later, I finally got the impression that it was now possible to talk to him about the rights. A lot can change in 15 years, after all. So I asked the publishers again. This time they named me a sum and I accepted.
Why was the book so incredibly successful in your view?
You know, there are so many theories about why a masterpiece like "Perfume" is successful or not. In truth, you can really only guess. But in my view, "Perfume" is so successful because the story is so unique. And unique stories are what audiences want - but not simple experiences or things they've heard for the umpteenth time. "Perfume" really is an original.
And what exactly is so sensational about it?
The book is subtitled "The Story of a Murderer". But this murderer isn't the kind we usually imagine, some kind of sexually motivated serial killer who is just hell-bent on killing people. In this book, the murderer is more of an autistic personality, with no friends and a grim lot in life. This person has a talent, if you like, that makes him superior to those around him: an almost supernatural sense of smell. He perceives the world around him through his nose. I think that this feature alone makes the novel very unusual. And the murders themselves are by no means motivated by the mere desire to kill. He kills these girls because he wants to possess their scent. This person is certainly no "hero" as we understand from the conventional movie where someone fights against evil and by the end usually wins. But in the novel and in our film, there is no good and no evil, and that's also something that makes the story unique. For this reason the story is not so much immoral as amoral, beyond all our conceptions of morality. Because the protagonist, Grenouille, has no morality at all, nor does he has any psychological idea of love, gratitude, human interaction or sense of responsibility.
But surely the reader, and soon the audience, will have difficulties identifying with this character because of this?
This was the crucial question while we were writing the script. Normally you are more likely to identify with characters you are agreeable with, that you respect or that perform heroic deeds. And that was exactly the problem when we were writing, because Grenouille is a character that you won't see in 99.9 percent of movies. But this is exactly the kind of person we have as the central theme of this extraordinary book, which also functions incredibly well - although, or perhaps because, the "hero" isn't a hero you can identify yourself with. Transforming this plot from novel to script was the major challenge. A much bigger one, by the way, than the other problem we had, which was more of a technical nature - how to express smell and scent in a film. That was comparatively easy.
Looking for the right actor was like looking for a needle in a haystack?
It was a bit like that with this production, because the entire film is told from GrenouiIle's perspective. If you choose the wrong actor, the whole film is doomed. And the lead actor must be so right that the audience will never ask at any time whether someone else could have done it better. So we spoke with a lot of actors, because many auditioned. But at the same time we noticed a certain reluctance, even fear, about the role of Grenouille. Finally Tom found Ben Whishaw, who was playing Hamlet in London at the time (he was 23). And in our opinion, this young man embodied both: the innocent angel and the murderer. We knew then that we could make this project work.
Another difficult undertaking was portraying the invisible perfume and body scents. How did you go about doing this?
Of course, smells and scents cannot be portrayed visually. Any special effect would be nonsense here. On the other side, you have to say that a book doesn't smell when you're reading it either. So the author of the novel, Patrick Suskind, had to use the force of these words to convince his readers that they could really "smell" the scents in his story. Fortunately, we have more options in the film: the language of music and sounds and, of course, pictures. We definitely didn't want to use colors or special effects to portray scents. Our idea was, for example, to illustrate a meadow in the first light of spring. And if you get the light right here, the right camera sweep and the right moment, then the audience will be able to really smell this meadow.
Unlike in the novel, the encounter between Grenouille and the plum girl plays a very large part in the film. Was this intended from the outset?
Yes, it was, because in this case we wanted to give the protagonist in the film a slightly less cynical character than in the book. I know Patrick Suskind likes this cynicism and likes to flirt with it, and I wouldn't say we've eliminated this black humor from the film either. But we have rearranged the psychology of the characters somewhat. In this case, we wanted to give the other characters and their stories more space so that we could, in retrospect, understand the protagonist and his motives and obsessions better.
Why did you decide on Tom Tykwer as your director?
Tom has two qualities that made him ideal for this project: on the one hand, he has a distinctly artistic and innovative vein, and on the other he also has a very popular understanding of films. These two components - the experimental and the popular - must be internalized in such a project, which is definitely not an art house film, because otherwise a film like this cannot possibly be made with top international stars. When I told Tom I wanted to work with him I was therefore deciding to undertake two stages: first of all we worked on writing the script. And during this time it became clearer and clearer to me that only Tom could really be the right director too.
And how did this cooperation with him as director develop?
Just wonderfully, because Tom is not only a very professional filmmaker, he is also a very skilful one. He has a very fine eye and we were able to talk about every aspect of the project because we had complete trust in each other. And we also said right at the start that we would talk straight to each other. And even though Tom hasn't made as many films as I have, he is still a born director in my eyes. He doesn't only love making films, he's actually able to do so as well.
How did you get Dustin Hoffman interested in playing Baldini?
Dustin Hoffman was not only the first choice for this film, but he was also in there right from the start. He and Tom have known each other for many years because he really fell in love with RUN LOLA RUN. And he also liked my late nineties TV project, "Das Madchen Rosemarie". And when Hoffman discovered we were both working on PERFUME, he said yes immediately. And this was not so much because of the film as because he appreciates our work as filmmakers.
What makes Hoffman the ideal Baldini?
Baldini is primarily an arrogant man whose days as a perfumer are numbered. But he does have good qualities too, above all with his funny and sometimes eccentric character. But anyone playing him must bring this eccentricity across with dignity, which is something that Dustin Hoffman can do outstandingly. Nobody else is in a position to portray a certain kind of comedy with dignity the way he can.
The next supporting actor is Alan Rickman, who plays the merchant Richis from Grasse.
I must stress at this point that it was a real pleasure to have Alan Rickman involved in this project, because I think he's one of the best actors in the world. Not one of the films I've seen him in has bored me. In our case he plays the rich merchant from Grasse who defends his beautiful daughter from the serial killer Grenouille, who needs her scent as the final ingredient of his ultra-perfume and intends to get it by any means necessary. Richis the father has strong feelings for his daughter, who is a potential victim because of her beauty. Although he doesn't notice how close Grenouille really is to him and his daughter at first, he remains the only person who is a real match for this strange murderer and who is clever enough to understand Grenouille and his motives. For this reason we needed an extraordinary actor for this role, and we found him in Alan Rickman.
How difficult was it to find a suitable daughter for Richis?
This was, admittedly, just as difficult a search as the one for Ben was. We watched hundreds of audition tapes sent in by young actresses, and on one of them we discovered Rachel. The funny thing was that she was first discovered by Tom as one of 15 girls on an English tape. When he saw the video he said to me: "One of the 15 is the right one for this role, but I can't remember exactly which one it is." Then I looked at the tape and discovered the suitable person too. And it turned out we both meant the same one: Rachel. This was reason enough for Tom to go to London and cast her personally. He came back with a new tape that was brilliant - the search was over.
So what makes Rachel Hurd-Wood ideal for this role?
I think Rachel has a very rare talent. She embodies complete innocence with her age, but on the other hand she appears very mature and educated and when you talk to her it's like talking to an adult. She is also very beautiful. This provides a combination that the audience won't be able to resist.
INTERVIEW ANDREW BIRKIN
When did you first hear that "Perfume" was going to be made into a movie?
Bernd Eichinger rang me back in 2001 and asked me if I wanted to help him work on it.
You have a long-standing friendship with Bernd Eichinger.
I've known Bernd for more than 20 years, ever since I worked on the script for THE NAME OF THE ROSE. I love him because he's a real maverick. I admire the way he chose the infinitely harder path of sticking to PERFUME's unconventional structure, which really doesn't work like a classical three-act Hollywood movie at all. Bernd doesn't allow himself to be pigeonholed.
What was the biggest challenge in preparing the script?
The hardest part of our work was to make a film about a psychopathic murderer who is also the hero of the story. There are plenty of stories with attractive villains - Captain Hook, Hannibal Lecter - but there's almost always an ostensible hero who's out to track him down. But in PERFUME, Grenouille is not even particularly likeable - Suskind himself makes it clear on the very first page that he was "an abomination from the start". Moreover Grenouille never really speaks to anyone, not even to himself - all of which makes for an enormous challenge when translating this 'hero' to the screen for a mainstream audience.
Did you already know director Tom Tykwer before PERFUME?
No, but I watched his film RUN LOLA RUN while I was flying to St. Petersburg to meet him for the first time, and in short order loved both. Tom is a real auteur film-maker who has an all-embracing creative vision. PERFUME stakes everything on the personality of its protagonist, Grenouille. But for a good film in my view, you also need the personality of the filmmaker. This is why so many Hollywood films don't have any real character, because anyone could have made them. But Tom has given our film real personality, and it's this personality that makes the difference between an artist and a craftsman, however talented the latter might be.
What scent do you connect with the film?
Musk and oak moss, with a touch of tuberose and a dose of civet! (laughs)
INTERVIEW BEN WHISHAW
What kind of person is this Jean-Baptiste Grenouille?
I think he's a character with a lot of deficits, particularly on a social level. He's a kind of misfit, although I don't like that word. But he has this one extraordinary talent - being able to collect fragrances. This might be because he was bombarded with scents in Paris. Tom Tykwer and I often talk about this kind of autistic person, the way he sees the world, what's really important for him etc. But the big difference from the book is Tom sees this whole smelling thing as a kind of system that Grenouille has created to interpret the world. It's his way of making sense of the world.
Can you tell us a little about the story from Grenouille's point of view?
He grows up in Paris in the 18th century in terrible poverty, and this is why he searches for love and acknowledgement on a social level. But through this he takes the wrong turning and ends up murdering and creating a perfume for himself in order to achieve this. So he becomes a murderer, this disturbed figure through a kind of very human impulse or need, and we talk about him almost as a kind of fanatic, or even terrorist. The whole meaning of the world becomes about capturing smell and specifically this one smell, which he wants for himself because half way through the story he discovers that he is without odor at all. So for somebody for whom existence is all about smelling, the realization that you have no smell is fairly devastating. So the whole second half of the film is about creating a perfume and ends in an amazing climax - which I won't give away, although most people know it already.
Grenouille has a very special relationship with Laura, the beautiful daughter of the merchant, Richis.
Well, it's funny because it's not really a relationship, he doesn't really have any relationship with anyone. I think this is what's strange about playing this character. It's in his mind and it's a kind of obsession, but it's from a distance. He doesn't know her. He doesn't know anything about her as a human being. All he knows is her smell - in fact that's all she is to him - an overwhelming smell.
You mentioned that you talked to Tom Tykwer a lot during the shooting. How was working with him as a director?
Tom is fanatical in a Grenouille-ish kind of way. He's very obsessive, maybe even slightly manic in his approach. I've never known somebody with quite so much energy and commitment. It really takes my breath away. We talked all the time - morning, noon and night. I've never worked with somebody who has such a cinematic sort of vision. This is epic; it makes him very exciting to work with. I absolutely adore him.
Grenouille has a teacher called Baldini. What is the relationship between teacher and pupil?
I think the thing about the relationship between Baldini and Grenouille is that they both have very clear goals and things that they want from the other person. Grenouille wants to learn how to capture smells from Baldini, and Baldini wants to exploit Grenouille's genius for creating perfume and revive his ailing business. So it's completely practical and selfish, really. And again it's a relationship that is not really a relationship.
Baldini is played by the legendary Dustin Hoffman.
Obviously he's a legend, and it's always fascinating to meet legends. I remember the first day, coming onto the set, and I saw him all made up in his gear when he opened this door and the camera was rolling and I was laughing to myself, because I thought, this can't be true, can it? That's Dustin Hoffmann? I learned so much from him. He has such a joy in his approach, and so much laughter and fun, and he's almost irreverent about it. He just gets it out, all out and doesn't censor himself in any way, which I found really extraordinary to see.
And you have something in common with Alan Rickman, who plays your antagonist Richis - you went to the same acting school.
That's right. I'm really fond of Alan. We don't really have many scenes together in this film but I truly enjoyed our conversations during shooting breaks. There's something very wise about him - he seems to have a very wise attitude towards life. And he's a fantastic actor. I love watching him work - there's always lots of stuff going on under the surface. It's really compelling.
And what can you tell us about your young British acting colleague, Rachel?
Rachel is extraordinary, because I can't believe she's 15. It's quite disturbing in a way because she's so mature. There's something just so attractive about her - obviously physically, but just as a human being she's very full of light and life.
Bernd Eichinger spent many years fighting to get the rights to make the movie. How did you experience him?
Bernd has been on the set almost every day. It was only just the last couple of weeks he started to have the odd day off, and I think it was because he was happy with what we were doing. But this project is his baby, really, and he's invested so much of his life in making it happen. I really love his passion for it, and his uncompromising attitude. At the start they were all asking for a happy ending for Laura. But he wasn't going to listen to them - he wanted to realize the story as best as he could. And you really have to appreciate that.
Scent is immensely important for the movie. Did your sense of smell sharpen during the production?
Well, I think we're always aware of smell, and it touches us emotionally. I don't think that my sense of smell has sharpened or got better or anything - or become superhuman like Grenouille's but I've definitely become more aware. And there were certain smells on the set that will always bring back this period of my life for me. Particularly Nicole, who did the clapper loading. She wore a particular perfume. And because she was the last person who stepped in front of me for each take, I got a waft of her perfume (inhales). The next time I smell this perfume, I'll be brought back to summer 2005.
Have you got your own favorite smell?
Well, I've got two, but they aren't very interesting: I love the smell of bonfires, and I love the smell of rain, well, actually after a rainfall, on concrete. I think it's because it reminds me of London, and I've been away from home for so long.
INTERVIEW DUSTIN HOFFMAN
What makes a good perfume?
First of all the unmistakable sensation, the immediate impression from the instant you first sense the aroma of the perfume. Then it is literally the personality of the perfume that then remains. But the crowning glory is the soul of the scent, its music. This is what says the most about a perfume. But this point of view - the first impression, the personality and the soul - basically applies to everything we do. Because we want to put soul into the things we do in order to convince others of us or perhaps even to turn their heads.
And this includes the process of filmmaking too?
Of course, because filmmaking is also a kind of magic. Let's take an airplane, for example. This piece of technical equipment doesn't look as if it can fly at all at first glance. And you're surprised when it actually does. Filmmaking is like that too - it all seems incredibly technical at the beginning and yet by the end it does seem to have some kind of magic. So it's quite possible that after a fourteen-hour shoot you suddenly sense this one ultimate moment that makes up for all the stress: when everything fits and everybody on the set is suddenly together. And this is the moment that keeps me working.
So filmmaking is a kind of big happening?
To be honest, filmmaking also has a kind of family aspect about it, because you're working with really good people for a lot of hours every day. You definitely get a kind of family romance developing it that situation! (Laughs) And at the shoot, most of the help came from the make-up and costume people, who actually spent more time occupied with our characters than we actors did ourselves.
Are there similarities between you and Baldini?
Well, Baldini lives in constantly fear of his contemporaries finding out that he "steals" odors in order to make his own perfume. So if somebody asks me if we have anything in common, then I definitely have to say "Yes". I've been a thief all my life, because art is also a kind of theft. So I wish I'd met Baldini just once, so I could tell him: don't feel guilty, because we all steal. (laughs)
What is the relationship between Baldini and his protege Grenouille?
The relationship between the master Baldini and the prodigy Grenouille is comparable to that between Mozart and Salieri as it was presented in Forman's film AMADEUS. There, the genius Mozart interacts with the only "very good" musician, Salieri, who is constantly spying on the talented Mozart. The relationship between Baldini and Grenouille is similarly constructed because although Baldini knows how to make perfume, he's lacking that certain something that makes only very few people geniuses.
How do you see your film partner Ben Whishaw in his role?
I didn't get to know Ben until the dress rehearsals, but I already knew then why Tykwer had chosen him: Ben Whishaw had this wild, untamed habitus that his character Grenouille also has. There is only maybe one in 100,000 actors who has this habitus.
How did you get to know director Tom Tykwer?
I liked Tykwer's film RUN, LOLA, RUN a lot, and so I just called him a few years ago. We became friends - but only by telephone. At some point I heard from Tom that he wanted to adapt the novel "Perfume". I had read the book for the first time 20 years ago and I wanted to get involved.
What's it like working with Tom Tykwer?
He's a little on the obsessed side - he knows exactly what he's doing and prepares himself for his work very precisely. I think that three or four years for preparatory work is no exception for him. At the same time, he has great respect for the opinions of his actors, which is not always necessarily the case with directors. A lot of directors get this strangely enraptured look in their eye when you talk to them about their own ideas. But Tom would always be open if I came along with a new idea. There was a great sense of unity between us when we worked together.
And how would you characterize the German producer Bernd Eichinger?
Eichinger was heavily involved in the project from start to finish. You could tell that he put everything into making sure the film was good - which should not be understood purely in economic terms. This attitude is not to be taken for granted among film producers.
INTERVIEW ALAN RICKMAN
You are the merchant Antoine Richis in the movie. What can you tell us about your character?
Well the important thing about Antoine Richis is that he's a father. And, more than that, he's a single parent. His wife died - we're not quite sure of the circumstances - but he lives quite a privileged life. He's a rich merchant and lives in a very big house with his very beautiful daughter. And the main thing we know about him through this story is that he is very, very protective of her. Because as he says, 'You're all I have.'
What happens to the daughter during the film?
Well, everything that happens in the film has to do with the story of this young man, Grenouille. Richis doesn't meet him until right at the end of the story, so, all he knows about him is that there is a serial killer at loose in the area, and he's only killing young and very beautiful girls, and since Richis' daughter is one of the youngest and most beautiful girls in the area, he thinks - quite rightly - that his daughter is at risk. So what he does is become a kind of Sherlock Holmes. All the rest of the town, all of the bigwigs, make a lot of noise, but Richis uses his intelligence to try to outwit this unknown force who is killing all these young women.
Can you understand the passion of Grenouille to try to find this ultimate scent? This ultimate perfume?
Well, that's difficult - because he becomes a killer. So it's very hard for us to justify things like that. But I think, like with any serial killer, you have to try to understand where it came from in the first place. Otherwise we don't understand anything about ourselves as a society. You know, it's no good to just throw rocks at the van that the police take away killers in. I don't think that achieves anything. You've got to say, society produces these people and how does it do that, and why. In this case, it's the story of somebody who was abandoned as a baby and abused throughout his childhood, so he develops one thing that he is confident in and sure of and that he is a supreme expert in, and that's his sense of smell. And, it's not right, but it's perhaps not surprising that he becomes obsessive, because he lives entirely in his own head.
What impressed you most about this material?
Well, I had not read the book, and so I read it just as a film script. But when I heard that Tom Tykwer was going to be directing it, that was a huge attraction to me, to work with him. And I suppose I like stories about obsessive people (laughs). And I think Richis is almost as obsessive as Grenouille, in a way, because Richis focuses all his energies on protecting his daughter from this unknown force.
Did you know any of Tom Tykwer's films before you got involved with the project?
Well, of course, I knew RUN, LOLA, RUN like everybody did, but unfortunately I hadn't seen THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR, or haven't yet, and then he's made a very fine short film, as well, that I love - TRUE. He's a remarkable filmmaker, and I said to him, 'It's like you're not just in control of every frame of every film, you're in control of the milliseconds within a frame.' He knows the visual power of the smallest moment - when an eye closes and opens - and then that becomes part of the narrative. So it's always exciting as an actor on film to be able to hand yourself over completely to the director.
Would you describe him as an actors' director?
He's very sure of what he wants, and he's got a very clear picture in his head of every shot, every scene and how the movie will be, I think, but, but that doesn't mean to say that his mind is closed. He has what the English call a sunny disposition. Which I think is rare in a business that has so much pressure put on the director and there are such time constraints and such money constraints. And to have somebody who always has a smile, even when things are getting a bit tense, is a rare thing, and that gives you a lot of energy.
And how was working with Bernd Eichinger?
Well I think, you know, Bernd is in danger of exploding with passion one day. He's so passionate ... and now that's a great thing to have in a producer because it means that they're involved, and he cares so much about this project and he's fought so hard to get it made that I think that's nothing but good. And I see the way that he and Tom interact, and I know that Tom feels that support hugely, and even when Bernd isn't here, his presence is kind of floating around anyway.
The production designers have done a lot to make the film look as authentic as possible using antique furniture and materials, and so on. Can you tell us a little about that? How did you feel, surrounded by all these antiques?
The designers have done an incredible job on the film. Of course, most of the film looks awful because it's very much the poorer part of Paris and then suddenly, half way through, you arrive at the house that Laura and I live in and its incredibly beautiful and, but in a surprising way because, if the camera moved two feet to the left you'd find that there's no ceiling, and that they had to clear maybe a foot of refuse off the floor of this extraordinary place in the middle of Barcelona and they found - I think when you work hard you get presents - these beautiful marble floors that had been covered in rubbish for the last 10 or 12 years. And then they came in and painted the walls, and brought in incredibly valuable antique furniture, and made a sort of cinema magic out of this place that, when you see it on film, you'll think, "Who owns that?" I don't know that it's ever been filmed in. And it has everything that we required. It had a beautiful terrace for the birthday scene and it had a maze for Rachel - Laura - to run around and get lost in. So it was a kind of miracle, really.
INTERVIEW RACHEL HURD-WOOD
What does it mean to you to play an important supporting role in such a prestigious international film production?
I was so happy and very excited. It's just been the most fantastic experience working with everybody. Tom is the most fantastic director, and I'm honored and flattered to be playing Laura.
What can you tell us about Laura, the merchant's daughter from Grasse?
I believe her to be like a butterfly because she's always trying to fly away; she's always trying to get away from her father, who is always trying to pull her back. And, she's wild and free, carefree, vivacious, happy.
And how would you describe Laura's relationship with Grenouille?
I think she's blissfully unaware of anything. I think she has no idea at all. I mean, at the end she does, obviously, but other than that, why should she?
How would you describe Grenouille?
He's a very strange character. He's twisted and dark - but he's not evil. I don't think he's bad at all. I think he just doesn't know right from wrong.
What was your first reaction after reading the script?
I thought it was fantastic. I read the book beforehand, just to have an idea of the story. Then, reading the script, I just couldn't believe it. I thought it was brilliant. And I thought, I have to work on this project.
Why do you think the novel has been such a massive success?
I think everybody gets something different out of it. I think that's because the author Patrick Suskind has managed to put many layers into the narrative and maintain them throughout, despite the complexity of the content.
How was it working with your film father Alan Rickman?
Alan is absolutely fantastic. He's the sweetest person and very funny. He's a very wonderful guy. And he's very, very patient, understanding and supportive.
And how did you get along with Ben Whishaw, who plays Grenouille?
Ben is absolutely fantastic too. Unfortunately, I don't have too many scenes with him. But he's the sweetest, sweetest person.
What kind of person is the German filmmaker Tom Tykwer?
He's very, very creative. He's focused, but he was very understanding when people didn't quite do as he said. Tom is very calm and patient and a wonderful human being.
The production designers tried to make the movie look as authentic as possible using antique furniture and antique materials.
Yes, definitely. They've done a wonderful job, and there are a lot of different accessories on the set. For example, in Laura's bedroom there's a particular painting, and it's of a bird in a cage, and I said to Tom, "Surely that has to be deliberate?" And he said, yes, it was. And it's just things like that that make you think, 'We have a team of geniuses here'.
Which location did you like best?
Probably the Richis' house, because it's big and incredible, it's just beautiful. And the labyrinth as well, because I got to run around all day and burn off some energy. That was great fun.
And how were the horse scenes?
That was also lots of fun, but there wasn't too much riding involved. The only stupid thing was that there were so many flies! I must have smelled very good or something!
What did you do in general to prepare for this role?
I'd done quite a few riding lessons to prepare, and I did some behavioral lessons - how to move, how to walk and sit down, for example. In the time that we're making the movie, people would be so much slower, and I'm the kind of person who runs from A to B. So I had to learn to slow down and be calm. They'd be a lot more elegant than we are today.
Have you got a favorite scent?
My favorite scent? The smell of success (laughs)!
THE CAST / FILMOGRAPHIES
Ben Whishaw (Jean-Baptiste Grenouille)
Ben Whishaw was born on 14 October 1980 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating spring 2003.
In 1999, prior to drama school, Ben played important supporting roles in two films, THE TRENCH (Arts Council/Studio Canal, directed by William Boyd) and MAUVAISE PASSE (Pathe/Studio Canal, directed by Michel Blanc). He also played the title role in MY BROTHER TOM (Film Four, directed by Dom Rotheroe). After graduation, he has appeared in ENDURING LOVE, a film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel directed by Roger Michel, and LAYER CAKE, a feature directed by Matthew Vaughn. ln 2003, he starred in the popular comedy-drama THE BOOZE CRUISE for ITV.
Ben subsequently made his West End debut at the National Theatre in their stage adaptation of Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" and starred as "Hamlet" in Trevor Nunn's electric 'youth' version of the play at the Old Vic, for which he has received tremendous critical acclaim. It was during this run that PERFUME director Tom Tykwer discovered Ben's extraordinary talent. Ben was seen on television recently in the UK in "Nathan Barley" from director Chris Morris for TalkBack Productions. In November 2004 he shot a feature film called STONED, in which he plays Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones. 2006 sees Ben team up with MY SUMMER OF LOVE's director Pawel Pawlikowski on the feature RESTRAINT OF BEASTS and he returns to the National Theatre for Katie Mitchell's version of "The Seagull".
Dustin Hoffman (Giuseppe Baldini)
Dustin Hoffman took the world by storm with his 1967 OscarR-nominated performance as Benjamin Braddock in THE GRADUATE. Since then, he has been nominated for six more Academy AwardsR for his masterful roles in MIDNIGHT COWBOY, LENNY, TOOTSIE and WAG THE DOG. He took home the OscarR in 1979 for KRAMER VS. KRAMER and again in 1988 for his portrayal of autistic Raymond Babbit in RAIN MAN, Hoffman was born in Los Angeles and studied at Santa Monica Community College and the Pasadena Playhouse before moving to New York to study with Lee Strasberg. He began his career off-Broadway, winning both the Obie and Drama Desk Awards for his roles in "Harry, Noon and Night" and "Eh?", respectively. It was on the New York stage that he caught the attention of Mike Nichols. After THE GRADUATE, he continued to give unforgettable performances in films that include: LITTLE BIG MAN, STRAW DOGS, PAPILLION, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, MARATHON MAN, STRAIGHT TIME, and AGATHA.
In 1984, Hoffman hit the boards again as Willy Loman in the Broadway revival of "Death of a Salesman", which he also produced. The role brought him the Best Actor Drama Desk Award, and in its filmed version, an EmmyR for his performance. He returned to the screen to star in diverse films such as: ISHTAR, DICK TRACY, BILLY BATHGATE, HOOK, OUTBREAK, SLEEPERS, MAD CITY, RUNAWAY JURY, I HEART HUCKABEES, FINDING NEVERLAND and MEET THE FOCKERS.
Hoffman produced the film A WALK ON THE MOON, starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen and Liev Shreiber and executive produced "The Devil's Arithmetic," which won two EmmyR Awards.
Alan Rickman (Antoine Richis)
Alan Rickman, one of the most important British film, TV and stage actors, started his theatrical training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He soon graduated to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and in 1985 created the role of the Vicomte de Valmont in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses." When the play moved to Broadway, Rickman came with it and was honored with a Tony nomination.
Producer Joel Silver had noticed Rickman as Valmont, and offered him the role of uberterrorist Hans Gruber, opposite Bruce Willis in DIE HARD. Soon after came Anthony Minghella's small treasure, TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY. In 1991 came ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, with Kevin Costner and Rickman's unforgettable performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham, for which he won a well deserved BAFTA award.
In 1995 he was Colonel Brandon, loving Kate Winslet from afar in Ang Lee's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. He next appeared in the television film "Rasputin" taking both an EmmyR and a Golden GlobeR for his performance as the mad zealot. Rickman then turned to comedy, appearing as Metatron in Kevin Smith's DOGMA, and as Dr Lazarus in Dean Parisot's GALAXY QUEST. Onstage, he played Marc Antony to Helen Mirren's Cleopatra at the National Theatre, and Elyot in "Private Lives" both in London and on Broadway, winning a second Tony nomination.
More recently, Rickman starred in Richard Curtis' LOVE, ACTUALLY and the critically acclaimed HBO movie SOMETHING THE LORD MADE, opposite Mos Def. Rickman's appearances as Professor Severus Snape in the HARRY POTTER movies continue to keep us all young at heart. This year also sees the release of NOBEL SON with Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pullman and Danny DeVito, and also SNOW CAKE in which Rickman co-stars with Sigourney Weaver and which was the opening night film of the 2006 Berlin Film Festival.
Rachel Hurd-Wood (Laura)
Rachel Hurd-Wood was born in London in 1990 and was already on stage at her school theatre at the age of 7. The ambitious young actress was presented to a wider audience for the first time in her role as Wendy in P.J. Hogan's film adaptation of PETER PAN (2003). She was nominated for the Saturn Award and the Young Artist Award for this performance. In 2004 she starred alongside Hollywood veterans Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland in the mystery thriller AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, directed by Courtney Solomon (DUNGEONS & DRAGONS), which will be released in 2006. Rachel Hurd-Wood was most recently seen as Imogen in the British TV production, "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking"(directed by Simon Cellan Jones) alongside Rupert Everett and Ian Hart. The role of Laura in the film adaptation of the worldwide best-seller PERFUME, for which she was selected from hundreds of girls, is the greatest challenge to date in her promising career.
THE FILMMAKERS / FILMOGRAPHIES
Tom Tykwer (director and co-screenwriter)
Tom Tykwer was born in Wuppertal in 1965. The young film enthusiast was making his first Super-8 films at the age of 11. After the two short films, BECAUSE (1990) and EPILOG (1992), he made his first feature film in 1993, DEADLY MARIA. In 1994 Tykwer founded the production company X Filme Creative Pool with Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker and Dani Levy.
He realized his second film, WINTER SLEEPERS, in 1996/97. Tykwer made the most successful German film of 1998: RUN LOLA RUN. His film project, THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR, was shown at the Festival of Venice and it won the Silver German Film Award in 2001 for Best Film. Tykwer's last full-length feature film, HEAVEN, opened the International Film Festival in Berlin in February 2002.
Bernd Eichinger (producer and co-screenwriter)
After graduating from Munich's Television and Film Academy in 1973, Bernd Eichinger founded his first production company, Solaris Film, and began a career that was to change the course of the German film industry. His early productions brought international attention to "new German filmmakers" like Wim Wenders, Alexander Kluge, Edgar Reitz or Hans-Jurgen Syberberg.
More than 80 million people in Germany alone have seen films from Bernd Eichinger. Among his most successful international productions are: Uli Edel's CHRISTIANE F., Wolfgang Petersen's THE NEVERENDING STORY, Jean-Jacques Annaud's THE NAME OF THE ROSE, Bille August's THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS and Oliver Hirschbiegel's DOWNFALL.
Andrew Birkin (co-screenwriter)
Andrew Birkin, son of the late actress Judy Campbell, and brother of actress Jane Birkin, was born in London in 1945. At the age of 16 he dropped out of school to work as a messenger at the 20th Century Fox's London office, working his way up to production assistant on various films. In 1966 he was assigned to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY where he caught Kubrick's attention by suggesting a British location for the "Dawn of Man" sequence. He filmed the second unit sequences over Scotland, and subsequently became the legendary director's assistant.
In the following years Birkin wrote scripts for television and film, among them the BBC's award-winning series on Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie titled THE LOST BOYS (1978) and THE NAME OF THE ROSE. He made his directorial debut in 1988 with THE BURNING SECRET, the adaptation of Stefan Zweig's novella Brennendes Geheimnis. Birkin directed two other films, both for producer Bernd Eichinger: SALT ON OUR SKIN and THE CEMENT GARDEN with his niece Charlotte Gainsbourg in the lead role, for which he was awarded the Silver Bear as best director at the Berlin Film Festival.
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Release Date : Jan 25, 2007
Official Website : www.parfum.film.de
www.goldenscene.com (HK)
Distributor : Golden Scene Co Ltd.
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