Perfume

Saw the movie Perfume last night. I knew we were in for something extraordinary when the director CG'd the camera right up the nostril of the protagonist in the opening credits as though declaring that this would be a literal interpretation rather than a nuanced, conceptual rendering of the story. Tom Tykwer was going to play it 'on the nose', so to speak.

In this beautifully photographed film, we have the pleasure of playing Twenty Questions with Dustin Hoffman's character as we strive to guess exactly what accent he is delivering with his performance. The closest I could come was a cross between Boris Badenov and Homer Simpson. The joy wasn't in watching a fine actor struggle with a difficult accent, as no effort was discernable. Rather, the pleasure came from watching a highly paid actor deliver n'importe quoi as a commentary, perhaps, on the rest of the film.

I would love to see what Patrice Leconte would have done with this exceptional novel from Patrick Süskind with Vincent Cassel as Mr. Frog.