I know this is a strange topic, but I really wanted to cover something different and I'm super proud of how this video turned out, so I really hope you enjoy it! ... *Let me know what you want to see in my Halloween 2020 series and beyond!*
An interesting fact about smell: It’s the only sense that goes directly to the rest of the brain without going through the thalamus first. The thalamus is what keeps us from noticing outside stimuli when we sleep so we aren’t woken up at the slightest sound or littlest bit of light. Because our scent receptors bypass this process, smells are good at waking us up.
I always thought he douses himself in the perfume in the end was because, standing there as a 'God' on the podium, surrounded by people in ecstasy, he realizes how lonely he is. They love the scent, not him. He remembers the first girl because she was what he was really chasing all along. A living-breathing 'scent' that he destroyed in order to own. I get the whole 'people love you for your things' but I think he was finally realizing he would never have a connection with another human.
I read the book twice years ago and loved it, didnt know there was a movie until much later. I always thought so too. At least in the end he dies while being loved, even if its because of the perfume, because he never had that in his life.
Chantal U The movie diverges from the book in this particular scene, I believe. It turns Grenouille (apologies for the misspelling) into a tragic figure who deeply yearned to be loved, rather than his nihilistic self loathing Patrick Bateman-esque mindset in the book. It makes him more redemptive is what I’m saying.
I read the book and one scene that contains to haunt me is when he describes killing a puppy to catch it's scent then presenting it to the pup's mother and how the dog couldn't keep its nose out of the bottle.
Yeah they do something similar with the short German series on Netflix called Perfume. Since you've read the book and watched the video, I thought it might be a good idea to recommend a series that uses the book as an important plot point.
One of my favorite movies! One of the rare examples of the film bring better than the book. Controversial opinion but I like that grenouille had the scene in the orgy where he cries over the plum girl and the life he could never have. It makes his suicide much more tragic in that he’s self aware how repugnant and desperate he is. It goes completely against the book where he’s completely alien to all people and just gets bored. But it’s much more interesting.
I feel like the book goes a bit further into these concepts, so I can recommend them if you ever feel like reading something. I also read the book after having watched the movie, so I feel like you might still be able to enjoy it also :)
William Hellberg Yanci I really enjoyed the book. But definitely I felt grenouille was disdainful and disinterested in people. The section where he lives in a cave highlights his complete detachment from the human race and his acceptance of it. I don’t think he ever was saddened by not having human connection in the book at all. And that’s perfectly fine and makes him the “remarkable personage” he is. But I preferred, in a sea of writhing bodies, grenouille having a moment to realise what he could never have. It give the character a smidge of development rather than just being a repugnant person. It felt his death in the book was more disdain for the human race whereas in the film he was finally “loved” so much he was ingested.
@@Medusa0999 I get where you're coming from, but I'm generally not a fan of when movies try to make book characters more human or relatable or cram an arc in where there was none in the book. That is usually a copout and disrespectful to the audience, done because the film maker thinks the movie audience can't handle something stark or harsh. Artists also tend to be tempted to make things tragic and emotional where they can, without always having a good reason to. The character is a psychotic murderer. Making his death tragic and sad seems like a obvious choice to make the end of a movie more impactful and jerk some tears, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice from an artistic and story telling perspective. It is the easy choice, the obvious choice, the lazy choice, the pandering choice.
@@Medusa0999 Well, maybe I just created the link inside my head, but I always thought that the book and the movie contrast each other nicely. The movie portrayed the superficial behavior, where Grenouille seemed to barely behave human, due to change of perspective of living through scent. Highlighting the world wherein he lived, and how he was detached from it. Then the book, would be a more introspective story of who he was on the inside, filled with contempt and believing himself superior to those who did not have his gift, therefore the cave section was where he could live in this "purple palace" by himself, denoted a more human and greedy personification of the character. Almost as the book and movie were two sides of the same coin. I do think at least, that the movie seems more genuine, as I could imagine that someone born with such a "gift", would have never been human at all. Making his entire hatred in the book seem a little exaggerated, an maybe not how the animal that Grenoille is. Also the ending to the movie, seems extremely open ended (which I absolutely love).
@@MapleFried I'd argue more 'gruh-noo-ye', the 'ye' being just the end of eye. The uh is tricky because our French e/eu sound doesn't exist in English. Maybe thinking of the first sound of irksome, or the vowel sound in fur, is closer still.
@Iron Fox not 'you'. Oo would work. I've been teaching French in England for years. Your break down would make pronunciation not just wrong but even harder to get out by adding a sound that isn't there in the French word.
This movie holds a special place in my heart...not because I watched it, but because I took French all throughout high school, and we'd always jokingly suggest Parfum (the French title) as a movie to watch because we knew damn well Madame couldn't show it to us. 😆
Really? In our German class we watched the movie... when we were 14. Tbf our history teacher, when we were discussing the Vietnam War, watched Full Metal Jacket at around the same time
@@HeresorLegacy we watched it in German class when i was around that age too. First we read the whole book together during multiple German lessons, then we watched the movie.
yeah probably because, while it plays in france it's neither a french story nor french movie. So.... you could have just as well asked for watching the Terminator in french dubs I guess ^^
Story time: the first time I watched "Perfume", I thought it was so unique and 'deep' that I talked it up to a co-worker at work. Apparently she didn't check the rating or really understand the premise, because she took it home and watch it with her parents. She was so angry with me the next day.
I assume the sex/nudity is a bit much for some (I haven’t seen the movie) but hardly your issue/problem. 😆 I felt weird when more graphic sex scenes would come up in a movie with my parents too, so I might have come back to work and giving you a bit of a hard time in a joking way.
I read this book this year! Kurt Cobain made a song based on this book called 'Scentless Apprentice.' I've yet to see the movie but definitely will now.
For those of you wondering why the scent of his perfume resulted in an orgy is because it was so exquisite and perfect that it invokes something in their very being. If we think of ourselves as God’s creation then we carry a part of God within us. Sex is the most intimate activity conceivable where we physically link ourselves to another to become one. It’s basically getting closest to another fragment of God’s creation and in extension to God himself. It is also the most pleasurable act in the world and God is of course bliss and joy. Also Grenouille douses himself with the perfume and the scent makes him seem like an angel. The act of eating is also a way of absorbing something into your being. Those people simply had to have a part of the light Grenouille seemed to carry because they were in total darkness. On a side note I also think it is a metaphor for how mankind always in its selfishness trying to take beauty end in its destruction. Grenouille killed so many women to create the most wonderful perfume. The people consume Grenouille to satiate their hunger for something more than just food - some kind of spiritual hunger.
There's nothing to feel bad about in being a ginger! Quite the oppossite actually as natural red hair is one of the most gorgeous attributes in appearence a woman can have
It reminded me of the orgy from Dune. When Jessica transforms the worm poison into a spectrum awareness drug the massive crowd of Fremen eagerly grab for the wineskin bag to drink the drug and become "aware" of each other.
That scene is pivotal to understanding of how much a masterpiece his perfume really was and the power our sense of smell has on us. It transcends rationality, prejudices, beliefs that it can lead to an act so basal and animalistic. Also if we think of ourselves as God’s creation or children of God then we carry a part of God within us. Sex is the most intimate activity conceivable where we physically link ourselves to another to become one. It’s basically getting the closest you can be to another fragment of God’s creation and in extension to God himself. It is also the most pleasurable act in the world and God is of course bliss and joy. Also Grenouille douses himself with the perfume and the scent makes him seem like an angel. The act of eating is also a way of absorbing something into your being. Those people simply had to have a part of the light Grenouille seemed to carry because they were in total darkness. On a side note I also think it is a metaphor for how mankind always in its selfishness trying to take beauty end in its destruction. Grenouille killed so many women to create the most wonderful perfume. The people consume Grenouille to satiate their hunger for something more than just food - some kind of spiritual hunger.
I still remember my great-grandmother telling me that a 'lady' always finds her 'perfect scent' that she then wears throughout her life. I also remember a French lady laughing as she said that Americans were obsessed with the smell of soap or fresh linen, while she and others preferred a more musky, human scent. I haven't seen this film, but I did read the book, and found it a very odd, but very satisfying read. Now, after watching your video, I've got to find and watch the movie. Smell is a sense that doesn't receive the attention it deserves, as we seem more interested in sight (witness so many films dependent on CGI).
I mean to be fair using CGI in movies as to why we are more interested with sight isn't exactly a fair example. You can't smell movies. You can smell a cinema... But not movies. If you were arguing that movies now tend to go more for instant, dazzling CGI visuals over actual thought and emotion provoking content, I would agree with you 100%.
The average person can be going about their day, working, choring, hanging out with family. Then, at random, your girls perfume or the smell of bread in the oven, or maybe the scent of a cigar will make us think of things like memories and completely distracted us from the present. Scent is a powerful stimuli.
They can’t rely on smell in movies (yet). Knowing how scent is tied to memories, emotion, etc I could imagine how much it would add to the experience. The part about Americans being less interested/accepting of musky (natural) smells was really interesting to me and made some sense to me as an American and in general.
@@deltalimabravo6727 I think John Waters may be the only filmmaker to have tried 'smell-o-vision' for one of his movies, but yes; no one's come up with a good way for us to 'smell' a film (tho' that's no doubt something coming in future). The French lady I was talking to did find it amusing that we Americans were so concerned (she said 'obsessed') with smelling 'clean'. I hadn't thought much about it, until I traveled abroad, and took a delight in all the new scents/smells that were unfamiliar. Being an American, though; I still like the smell of fresh linen. :) Maybe our thing about smelling 'clean' comes from our Puritan ancestors, or something. It does seem a very 'American' kind of preference.
I just promo'd this channel 2 nights ago to a horror fan. For me personally, though, I didn't like horror films, limiting my consumption to 2 new flicks at Halloween.. MAYBE.😄 This channel is like my security blanket. I can watch "BTS" of The Grudge, etc., but still feel scared. The deep dives here, of films like "Sinister", are what make me feel safe. (Best video on here, imo.)
I'm so glad you covered this film. I feel like it flew under the radar, but it has an amazing cast and gorgeous cinematography. Hell, I'm hard-pressed to think of many flaws with anything, from the writing to the costumes and setting, it all seems flawless. But, it is one of the best horror movies, and one that manages to make the horrifying acts of the villain grotesquely beautiful.
GWENWEEEE: french for frog... (as a french speaker it took me a while to get what he was saying. But I know the french language is horrible for anyone who doesn't speak it, so I respect the attempt!)
I took French in school for three years. I still think written French and spoken French are two different languages 😂😂 You make pronouncing words really hard! I can write and read, to some degree, in French, and the grammar wasn't so bad (my first language is Portuguese) but speaking French is much harder.
@@pipitameruje Yeah, it's a concept I can hardly grasp tbh, given that my first language was french so I've never noticed this written/spoken dichotomy.
@@pipitameruje I took French for six years and I completely get the feeling of the "two different languages" situation. It was always easier to do my strictly written assignments rather than the ones that required me to present to the class. 😆
@@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose Oh yes. I'd get brilliant grades in written assignments, score crazy high on tests, and then get a meek little grade on orals. I've been to France a couple of times, and hearing it from native speakers helps a lot. I forced myself to use French instead of English to the furthest extent I could manage, but I was always very self conscious of my speaking skills. I did find the French to be quite amiable to my honest attempts at proper French, and quite amused when I simply had to turn to English to save myself further embarassment. I also felt I was treated better when I tried than when I just started of in English.
Fact: Kurt Cobain loved the book so much he made a song about it called "Scentless Apprentice" in his In Utero album. He said he read it ten times and could relate to the protagonist.
A cool little piece of trivia: the song "Du Riechst So Gut" by the German metal band "Rammstein" was inspired by "Perfume". The band's lead singer, Till Lindemann, is also apparently a fan of the novel.
This movie gives me so much nostalgia. We used to read this book during German class and eventually we ended up watching the movie during German class as well. Ever since the story portrayed in both the book and the movie has always stuck with me just because of how bizarre and intriguing it is. So happy to see someone review it!
Ryan you have such a friendly voice. I’m a scaredy cat about horror movies but I love analyzing them so your channel is perfect for me. You don’t make your Analysis unnecessarily scary and it’s really comforting. Your videos are all so entertaining and I hope seeing this makes you happy:)
I love this movie(and book) or two reasons. One: it is messed up and dark. And number two: I have a weird obsession with my sense of smell. I like them all. Bad and good. I want it all. I live my life by my nose. Smells have make me cry. The language of this book/movie is amazing. It enthralled me. 🧡 Love.
Had a bizarre experience after watching this film. I had an absolutely surreal nightmare in which I was the literal, biblical Devil and the revelation of this terrible truth was narrated to me by John Hurt, in the precise tone he uses narrating this film. It was legitimately terrifying and it induced in me a feeling of utter despair when I woke.
This is one of my favourite books and I love the film as well. I have congenital anosmia, meaning I have never been able to smell. One thing I found fascinating about the book that the smells were described so vividly that even I could (almost) imagine them, despite not knowing what the sense of smell is like.
I'm glad that you covered this!! I actually read this book in May and it was such an interesting and fun analysis of humanity and what life means. I really really recommend reading it, bc as much as the movie does a great job of conveying the themes, Patrick Süskind does an amazing job at making the entire experience totally revolting. Which sounds like a complaint but it's absolutely a compliment! Here's something I really was impressed with: "She was one of those languid women made of dark honey, smooth and sweet and terribly sticky, who take control of a room with a syrupy gesture. And she was young, so very young, that the flow of her allure had not grown viscous." By using the words like "terribly sticky", "syrupy", and "viscous" you're overwhelmed by your imagination conjuring up the idea of honey. You feel bloated without eating. That's such an amazing thing to accomplish, and I'm telling you, EVERY sentence in the book is like that... except for when Grenouille is creating a scent. Then, the descriptions have balance and aren't off-putting. It's an author's job to put you into a character's perspective and understand the world that they see, & that's exactly what this book does well. And that's just like, me nitpicking the word-choice. The other themes you brought up like personal identity, empathy, child abuse, capitalism & elitism, karma/the cycle of life are all present too. I was trying to look into Patrick Süskind (only to find out he's super private and doesn't do interviews... understandable but sad!) and it seems like a lot of college literature classes use this book to talk about these ideas? I totally understand that; it's an amazing source of food-for-thought.
@@neonwallacewells7818 Apprentice, not assassin. Cuz the protagonist in the book has no smell on him and he is an apprentice to a perfume shop owner or what not.
@@sonicmoremusic1 I gotta read it. I always loved scentless apprentice. I think it has Kurt's rawest vocals and it has so much of nirvana's usual cryptic, seemingly nonsensical lyrics that I was really surprised when I found out that it all makes sense and was based on a book.
This movie has eluded me for years! Thank you for bringing back a great memory that had been lost to time, I can now share this movie with others like I've always wanted! Love your content, keep it up man!
You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you to cover this film. My ex girlfriend showed it to me in Cuba and it was really... something. I appreciated it. The conviction of the protagonist and his journey through it. Great film.
I had a brain injury a few years ago resulting in me losing around 70% of my sense of smell. At first, it was entirely gone. Amazing what a massive difference it made- i felt like I had lost a layer of connection with the rest of the world. My favourite foods tasted flat, I couldn't smell my husband's hair anymore, or freshly cut grass. For a scent I took for granted, my sense of smell added so much dimension to my life.
This is probably nothing, but I noticed this with the movie. Yellow is a very big color in this movie, and it makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the flower, the sunflower. It has no smell, is a very common flower, is able to grow in snow, grow in very odd places, and it's a pretty cheep flower as well. Might be nothing, but just wanted to share.
This "story" of a murderer is definitely as magical as the perfume Jean- Baptiste concocted. This story isn't just a fictional account, its a parisian LEGEND. He is the legend. This is toyed with in the exchange between the Italian perfumer with Jean in which he tells him about the missing chord, the legend of the scent that came out of the Pharaoh's sarcophagus. He asks "whats a legend" to give the audience a glimpse into this. The idea thst this is narrated by an unseen omniscient storyteller also underscores the myth that you're being led through. Loved this movie, and of course this soundtrack is one of the best of the decade.
A little late to the party (I am) on this review. The final message of this movie struck a chord with me. I have commented for some time now about how strange deodorants, perfumes, and cologne concepts are. Romantically people who are chemically compatible often like the mild natural scents of their partners. I've heard people in real time talking about how they're attracted to people because they "Are wearing my favorite scent from Axe/some other odorizer". I'd go as far as to theorize that the phenomena that is cheap accessible perfumes that hide our natural scents completely play a role in some cases of toxic incompatibility that leads to conflicts in relationships. Leaving people who wouldn't naturally be chemically compatible being drawn in by false odor. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for bathing and I don't mind using a bit of pine tar or witch hazel, but the people who dowse themselves in perfumes are wearing a psychological veil that hides their true biological self.
I was only 9 when I saw this movie for the first time. My parents scolded me because I was too young to watch something like this, but I fell in love with this movie right away and it's still my all time favorite movie. The rejection, obsession and loneliness that, that murder went through made me feel sympathy and disgust towards him and made me realize the paradoxical existence of the complexity and, yet, simplicity of the human emotions and actions that exist in every single human being . The sound track is amazing and it's capable of giving a sophisticated desperation aura during the whole movie.
Really appreciate you promoting relatively unknown titles. I watched Lake Mungo after seeing the first part of your video on it (I waited until seeing it to finish), and I've never heard of this one or several of the others you do videos on. I've got several in a queue on Prime Video and I think I'll be adding another one today.
Before the musical star Michael Hutchence died, he gave this book to his girlfriend (kylie minogue) at the time. An intense book to give someone and kind of symbolized thier intense relationship. Only a few years before he lost all sense of smell. This was so important to him. His identity was formed on the senses. Sound was dulled by his lack of perception of scent. His controlling behaviour was amplified by his lack of control over his body. Mental illness, suicidal thoughts and complete social shut down. Just a fun story that reminded me why this movie confirms identity
Things like bodily smells are more complicated, especially due to the fact that these smells are both quite individual and a matter of our microbiome. But, for the most part, things smelling bad is not the least bit ambiguous. In general, things that smell bad to us do so because they are something that is potentially dangerous, toxic. Foul smells are often the result of bacterial activity and reacting negatively to that smell would help us to avoid eating things that might poison us. Smell is chemical reception. when you smell something, a molecule physically plugs into a receptor in your nose. So what you can or cannot smell depends on having the receptor physically, or whether it is activated. Also, Smell connects directly to the limbic system which is associated with emotions and memory.
Ah yes! I am subscribed to you even though I don't watch horror, just for the sake of oddballs like these. Perfume was a good watch for sure, glad you covered it. Very interesting, seeing the movie is all about scent, as this is not a thing that can be distributed in the medium, the imagery is so VERY carefully crafted. The camerawork and lightning is absolutely stunning, the plot macabre yet fulfilling in the elegant packaging. The story of a murderer is indeed a cool point of view, it's unsettling in an almost horror way which fits you well. I hope you do more films like this one.
If he wasn’t cruelly treated by the world when he was growing up, he might have made his perfumes from living enthusiastic volunteers, instead of dead girls.
This was the ultimate validation. An ex of mine was a self proclaimed movie snob. This ex absolutely opened my mind to sooo many great films. Legitimately. However, we watched Perfume and they were "meh" untill the end, which changed it to "bad." My opinion was that the film was captivating. I was hooked. I bought in. But at the end I was...confused. It went from tangible to fantasy in moments. I was wrapped and also unsure. My ex was bored and unimpressed. After this video,I dont feel confused anymore. You were able to articulate something I couldn't. Bravo.
Apple Cider will word off fleas. Everyone has their own "perfume'/" which is why he was obsessed not just with young women, but particular women. This was the obsessed part of it all...yet, in the end he was in a world he entered loveless and this sent, the combination could not replace what he was never given. The same as a serial killer, empty regardless of fulfilling his obsession. He this, returns to his place of birth, giving those who betrayed him the false sense of having done anything out of love, like giving birth to, abandoning and creating the killer....
@@Riot076 I only noticed bc his first one was SO hard to mimic, lol. I heard the 2nd one and was jarred by it. I *love* this channel. It's in my top 5 of 150, & I have a few of his videos in a playlist. I just legitimately can't understand what Ryan is saying sometimes and that's on me. I couldn't understand Mads Mikkelson's HANNIBAL either.. It's probably an American thing.💗
Me: Quickly pauses the video at 2:58-ish to hastily jot down: MINT, LEMON, CEDAR & LAVENDER - now _ALL_ on my shopping list to ward off this autumn’s spider population from invading my home!🕷😱
Finally a Video about this wonderfull piece of Art. I`ve read the book and watched the movie... twice. Because of school we had to analyse the book and tell the differences from it to the film (And there are a lot). And this is one of the very view examples of Art, where you have a absolutly great book and a movie, that ... does something different. That tries to tell a different Story with the charakter without failing in portraiing the books theme. And you know what? It is even better than the book. This ,movie is just perfekt.
I actually have an extremely weak sense of smell. I don’t remember the last time I smelled something, which sometimes is a good thing and sometimes is a bad thing. When walking by a garbage dump, it doesn’t bother me even though my friends are fighting to not gag or throw up, but the downside is I don’t notice good smells too like fresh baked cookies or the scent of perfume my girlfriend is trying out. It’s an interesting juxtaposition against this story where smell is such a driving force for the narrative. I don’t have any kind of personal experience to reference for the “power scent has over people” because it’s outside the realm of my experience
I do remeber watching the ending of that film, when I was 8 or 9 years old, one of my family members turned the tv on to see what was on. That movie was on or at least the final scene. I saw the main character infront of the car, I thougt it was some gladiator movie until the scene where he put some weared water thing on his head. I remember feeling nothing when watching them eating him. I couldn't understand there launguege, but the visuelz trully had an impact on me. Opening my eyes to what movies can be.
I like all of your videos, but I found this analysis particularly striking. When you said he was deep into romanticism but was unable to feel emotion, it oddly resonated with me. I've had severe depression for about 3 years, and I've been in a state of numbness for a while, while I'm also someone who deeply values emotion and strives to represent it through art and writing. I want to artistically participate in the emotional world, but my disconnection from it of course makes it difficult.
There is a rumor about the Hautefaye lynching in 1870, were supposedely a criminal was devoured by the crowd (untrue) after being beaten up and burned alive (true); they tried to hang him first but the tree branch they picked was too weak and broke. It was a rumor that was started by the mayor (a nobleman of the Second-Empire's Aristocracy) and played in full into the "backward brutal cannibal peasant" fears of the time; it is the most directly related event to the scene in Suskind's Perfume. The guy was suspected to be a Prussian spy, and/or being a Republican (thus against the Imperial Throne); he was neither, and the whole affair is a case of mass hysteria and paranoia in the context of the upcoming Franco-Prussian War.
Plot twist: it was actually from the smell of the woman’s father, who had lived a very fullfilling and happy life and just died recently surrounded by friends and family. The woman was returning home after a long day of grieving for the beloved father with her other loved ones. The murderer was not obsessed with the woman’s scent, but his supernatural sense of smell was actually picking up on the man’s leftover imprint on the world; beloved by many, even in death. Idk a thought I made up by thinking about it
This is one of my favourite books. The movie was good, but for understandable reasons can't capture a story focused around scent in the same way. Something I disagree with about the analysis is grenoille as a grim reaper or bringer of death. It's somewhat darker than that since each person he comes into contact with does die, but only in a fashion specifically horrific to them. The lady who ran the orphanage never wanted to die as her mother did from old age in an overcrowded hospices of the sick and dying lying wall to wall. She spent her whole life saving, including the money she got selling him, in order to buy a place with a nurse. She lived to 80, longer than him, but her savings were swindled and she eventually rotted away in the same hotel-dieu her mother died in.
So, during the video I kept seeing Alan Rickman in the clips that were used, and then later when Sweeney Todd was mentioned my brain went "Hey, he's also in the movie version of that!" Now I may or may not be going down a rabbit hole of "how many horror/thriller movies has Alan Rickman been in where one of the major themes is class?" Thanks, Ryan.
Two fun facts : 1 - In the novel, Jean Baptiste Grenouille was described as dwarfish, crippled and ugly ; but instead, we got ... Ben Whishaw 2 - Ben Whishaw also played Q in the Daniel Craig's Bond series, as well as voice Paddington on both films...
I watched this movie with friends as a teen and really found it beautiful. Two years later, it's a new school year and none of my friends are with me in my French class (french is main language in my provinceof Quebec so being alone in French meant being alone for most of school year🍁). I sat in back of the class to feel safe and invisible. The teacher has us read through our manual about descriptive writing and how through words you can convey any of the 5 senses. Many examples were listed and finally, at the bottom of the page, I saw a quote from "Le parfum" and recognized the name Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. I was so excited to read it, but as the teacher asked the class what we thought describing scent could convey, of course, being our main language class at 9am, no students could answer. I pushed my hand up, and openly put myself in spotlight to say I watched this movie, didn't even know it was based on a book, but the fact that through a movie and a book both succeeded in making you 'feel' what J-B was smelling was a success. It can make you feel disgust even though to the main character, there are no wrong smells. On stronger ones. Anyways. I shared my thoughts in front of a class of strangers. Multiple students had turned to look at me as I spoke. I pushed through my agonising anxiety to speak of my love for this movie and I'm still proud that 16 year old me did that. Because the teacher took notice. She asked me after class if I would like to borrow her copy of "Le parfum". Books were sacred to me, so having this teacher share hers was very special to me. I never made friends in that class, but that teacher and I connected through this story. It marked me. It was a book I read not because my friends did but because I was so attached to the story. It's almost a religious experience for me and I am happy some people may give both the movie and book some attention. Both are worth your time because the book uses words to convey scent (and you really do...'smell' ...through your mind) and the movie uses their visuals. Both deserve more recognition. Sorry for long comment but I really am so happy to see this video. Thank you Ryan for exploring something different.
I had a seemingly normal sense of smell up until recently, about four years back I started losing it, bit by bit. you don't realize how strong the emotional weight of scent is until you lose it. food doesn't taste as vibrant, every year I can smell the fall leaves a little less. the other day I was washing my hands and suddenly I smelled it, REALLY smelled it. it took me back to a memory of learning how to wash my hands as a toddler. I didn't even know I had that memory.
Great video! I'm so happy you did Perfume! I loved the book. The film was impressive for not only doing the book justice, it may have even been better. The book has very floral prose and evokes complex emotions rather than being plot heavy, and the film captured that. I would have thought that scent would be too conceptual to capture visually, but Tom Tykwer kept the balance between realism and artistic license beautifully. Maybe because he's also a composer, the concept of scent having notes and creating a harmony was something he understood and could translate. I liked your take about consumerism, I'll have to read and watch again with that frame in mind. ✨Loved your perfume ad 😂
This movie and book inspired me to start my hobby of perfume creation ~ As someone who is very focused on scents for stimming, the story was weirdly relatable ^^
I think there was a criminal minds episode with a very very similar concept, the guy was a supersmeller with mommy issues (I don't remember the exact reason why but it doesn't really matter) who drove a taxi and took young women to preserve their smell by drowning them in the alcohol that's used in modern perfume-making bc its the only smell that blocks out all the other smells that put him in like a constant state of sensory overstimulation He couldn't just kill em bc there has to be a climactic scene with the fbi busting in on the lair just in time to save the final victim but w/e
Mint, lemon, cedar and lavender? GOOD TO KNOW. See, i always thought about the "He doesnt have a smell" thing. Apparently, humans cant recognize their own individual smell. It's something so natural and ingrained, that you cant tell apart. Sure, we recognize when we are not smelling good, when we need to shower or are smelling of something foreing, but a person cant tell their own natural smell. So i always imagined that, is not that he doesnt have a smell, is more that, like all of us, he cant distinguish his own smell, and having such a connection with scents, the idea of 'not having a smell' overwhelmed him. Made him feel like a nobody, like nothing, like he never existed. But that's just my reading of it.
i remember being in mexico in 2014 and not knowing any channel numbers so just picking the movie channel and this movie came on at 1 am and after watching it forgetting all about it, then years later i has a bizarre dream about it and never realized until a year ago that it was a movie i has watched at 13
Its a strange thing, very fleeting. Right now I’m in my room and I don’t know what it smells like. You get used to smells quickly (most of the time) but if you don’t smell something for a while you might notice it when you come back.
I remember watching this movie in school when i was 14... It didn't seem that bad back then when we watched it, I actually really liked the movie (it is a good movie imo). But the fact that our teaches let us watch it is amazing me right now. (It was for English class and we were supposed to write a review of the movie in English, I'm Swedish btw)
I think the whole point was that each person has their own unique smell that can't be replicated. In other words, he was smelling his victims, not their perfume.
I forgot all about this movie. I liked most of the film but one thing that bothers me about costume design for filthy people is that the dirt is too evenly spread. There should be specific concentrations where the hands wipe, pits, groin, and feet. They always just have even dirt all over...
My favourite book. I never wanted to finish the book, the story. I rented it from a friend, so I don't have an copy on my own. I watched the movie first. The book is absolutely disgusting and I love it for that. As a German I could read the original without translation mistakes and so on. Sometimes I wished that the story would go more into some other characters and I would for example see the death of Madame Arnulfi, since everyone who helped him died, but she didn't. She was as much a help as Druot, but she gave him a job. Was a little disappointed there but still my favourite. I recommend everyone to read it, I really enjoyed it.
Try standing in line at the grocery store behind either an old lady that just left church, or a middle aged man in crisis. You too will feel like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.
I live in Germany and here is the book and the film Compulsory Education in Middle School (the film even has a PG rating here). But I have to admit, I don't like the book or the film. Personally, I consider it extremely overrated and in this work I don't see what is supposed to be somehow intelligent or exciting. To be honest, I find it very questionable why many would like it that way, since the story and the character representation are sometimes very hostile to women. Women are treated here as objects and men as people whom one must respect and with whom one must not mess. In addition, Grenouille as a character is written more than boring. The author Patrick Süskind himself admitted that he didn't think anything while writing and that he just wanted a book that would sell well. I respect everyone who likes the story and I would be interested to hear what others think of it, but personally I found perfume really weak and bad. 🎥📖 PS: sorry for Bad english📖🎥
I haven't seen the film or read the book, but from what Ryan said about the film the presentation of women makes sense, in that it shows the world from the perspective of the main character. All he cares about is their scent, and it's only men that have pushed him around and commanded him throughout his life, whom he tries not to start any trouble with as a result.
Haven’t read the book but I share your feelings about the film. Weak overall and overrated. Your english is just fine! If you would like constructive criticism, I would suggest looking at your sentence structure as I recognised it as more German.
I agree with you but I also think that objectification of women is thematically in line with the proliferation of commodity fetishism and capitalist modes of social organization. From a feminist perspective, The Sorrows of Young Werther is also poorly done. I think that pieces of literature can both have good symbolic power and important lessons divulged through analysis, and serious flaws in how they are written and convey people within the text. I think that such texts can even aid in the propensity to deliver feminist critique.
@@rolland890 Well, feminism is not the purpose of this story (hell, this film marginalizes pretty much everyone), and I can already tell it has a highly anti-consumerist theme. You're looking at it from the wrong perspective if that's all you're thinking about.
There was a Criminal Minds episodes with the same exact premise, just based in the modern era. Season 6, Episode 14 "Sense Memory" The movie came first, but I find it interesting.
This movie scared me so much as a kid. My parents, aunts and uncles were having a movie marathon. When this movie came next, I was scared asf. Especially when I saw the killing parts, orgy scene and the last part. It still makes me shiver from fear and disgust.
His life has plenty of parallels to the real life Tarrare. A Frenchmen with a unending hunger, who resembled a frog, who was noted for his unbelievably terrible smell. Go read The Wikipedia entry for Tarrare, it’s so completely bonkers. Short bizarre life wrapped in some medical mystery, and since you brought up baby eating.....he may or may not have eaten a baby.
I saw this film in DVD with my parents and my uncle. You can imagine how awkward the orgy scene was, we all actively tried NOT to look at each other during that scene.
This was really interesting! I’d like to see what you make of Head Count. It’s a fairly recent one, and while the low budget is very apparent, it was a really clever movie that you really had to pay attention to
I know this is a strange topic, but I really wanted to cover something different and I'm super proud of how this video turned out, so I really hope you enjoy it! ... *Let me know what you want to see in my Halloween 2020 series and beyond!*
Please do The Lighthouse next!
Review Pink Floyd's The Wall or Night in the Woods
Ginger snaps! Please?
Session 9
The taking of Debrah Logan
Please and thank you good sir
The Lighthouse
An interesting fact about smell: It’s the only sense that goes directly to the rest of the brain without going through the thalamus first. The thalamus is what keeps us from noticing outside stimuli when we sleep so we aren’t woken up at the slightest sound or littlest bit of light. Because our scent receptors bypass this process, smells are good at waking us up.
i can smell what yo thinking
i always wondered why the scent things woke people up
So what needs to go wrong that I can't smell anything expect vanilla, alcohol and nikotin?
very interesting!
Oh, smelling salts!
Really hope you do more films like this one that aren't exactly horror but definitely have darker themes and concepts than most thrillers.
I hope to!
Agreed! Maybe something like Annihilation
How about The Prestige? some of those reveals are dark indeed
@@RyanHollinger Have you ever considered Enemy?
What about Changeling?
I always thought he douses himself in the perfume in the end was because, standing there as a 'God' on the podium, surrounded by people in ecstasy, he realizes how lonely he is. They love the scent, not him. He remembers the first girl because she was what he was really chasing all along. A living-breathing 'scent' that he destroyed in order to own. I get the whole 'people love you for your things' but I think he was finally realizing he would never have a connection with another human.
This completely, I had a feeling he would miss the point of the movie
Yes. But to be honest, I think it is better to read the book because it explaines more.
(For the themes and motivations.)
I read the book twice years ago and loved it, didnt know there was a movie until much later. I always thought so too. At least in the end he dies while being loved, even if its because of the perfume, because he never had that in his life.
Chantal U The movie diverges from the book in this particular scene, I believe. It turns Grenouille (apologies for the misspelling) into a tragic figure who deeply yearned to be loved, rather than his nihilistic self loathing Patrick Bateman-esque mindset in the book. It makes him more redemptive is what I’m saying.
Too real
Scentbird sponsoring this video only to see it about a murder who kills people and makes perfume out of them. Im deceased
Shitposting your sponsors is the new trend.
Soo when's the Cole Finnegan scent coming out then?
I read the book and one scene that contains to haunt me is when he describes killing a puppy to catch it's scent then presenting it to the pup's mother and how the dog couldn't keep its nose out of the bottle.
oh come on--that just killed me ):
@@MK1vids I had to keep my cool listening to the audiobook in a shop!
Omg that’s vile
Yeah they do something similar with the short German series on Netflix called Perfume. Since you've read the book and watched the video, I thought it might be a good idea to recommend a series that uses the book as an important plot point.
@@Roberta_Trevino I'm pretty sure that's not on the UK Netflix (which is where I am) but I'll have a look for it. Still, yikes!
killer perfume reminds me of the time i got whiplashed by a girls hair and my senses were dulled by her perfume
Nice
One of my favorite movies! One of the rare examples of the film bring better than the book. Controversial opinion but I like that grenouille had the scene in the orgy where he cries over the plum girl and the life he could never have. It makes his suicide much more tragic in that he’s self aware how repugnant and desperate he is. It goes completely against the book where he’s completely alien to all people and just gets bored. But it’s much more interesting.
I feel like the book goes a bit further into these concepts, so I can recommend them if you ever feel like reading something. I also read the book after having watched the movie, so I feel like you might still be able to enjoy it also :)
William Hellberg Yanci I really enjoyed the book. But definitely I felt grenouille was disdainful and disinterested in people. The section where he lives in a cave highlights his complete detachment from the human race and his acceptance of it. I don’t think he ever was saddened by not having human connection in the book at all. And that’s perfectly fine and makes him the “remarkable personage” he is. But I preferred, in a sea of writhing bodies, grenouille having a moment to realise what he could never have. It give the character a smidge of development rather than just being a repugnant person. It felt his death in the book was more disdain for the human race whereas in the film he was finally “loved” so much he was ingested.
@@Medusa0999 I get where you're coming from, but I'm generally not a fan of when movies try to make book characters more human or relatable or cram an arc in where there was none in the book. That is usually a copout and disrespectful to the audience, done because the film maker thinks the movie audience can't handle something stark or harsh.
Artists also tend to be tempted to make things tragic and emotional where they can, without always having a good reason to. The character is a psychotic murderer. Making his death tragic and sad seems like a obvious choice to make the end of a movie more impactful and jerk some tears, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice from an artistic and story telling perspective. It is the easy choice, the obvious choice, the lazy choice, the pandering choice.
Damn, I never bothered to watch the movie since I enjoyed the book so much, but knowing this makes me want to watch it
@@Medusa0999 Well, maybe I just created the link inside my head, but I always thought that the book and the movie contrast each other nicely. The movie portrayed the superficial behavior, where Grenouille seemed to barely behave human, due to change of perspective of living through scent. Highlighting the world wherein he lived, and how he was detached from it. Then the book, would be a more introspective story of who he was on the inside, filled with contempt and believing himself superior to those who did not have his gift, therefore the cave section was where he could live in this "purple palace" by himself, denoted a more human and greedy personification of the character. Almost as the book and movie were two sides of the same coin. I do think at least, that the movie seems more genuine, as I could imagine that someone born with such a "gift", would have never been human at all. Making his entire hatred in the book seem a little exaggerated, an maybe not how the animal that Grenoille is. Also the ending to the movie, seems extremely open ended (which I absolutely love).
“Most baby’s smell like butter/this baby smelled like no other” Perfume was Kurt Cobain’s favorite book
Scentless Apprentice was my favorite song off of In Utero and I always loved the lyrics, I'll have to read the book!
My baby always smelled like cotton candy or ginger bread no idea why. We never had that in the house.
My baby legit smelled like buttered popcorn.
@@teiabutters7732 username checks out lol
Kurt Cobain had a good taste for art and literature
the sponsorship bit was way funnier than i expected which made it even better. i hadnt thought about this movie in years either!
Sponsoring expensive perfumes is right thing to do just before another shallow whining about capitalism. Very Appropiate of these kind of soytubers
but "muh capitalism bad" , remember
"Gwenn-Whee, French for 'frog'..."
Aw, bless your little Northern heart, Ryan.
I do it for the people
@@RyanHollinger
Phonetically, it's closer to "Grey-noo-ee"; just in case you ever need to say it again in the future, I dunno.
@@MapleFried I'd argue more 'gruh-noo-ye', the 'ye' being just the end of eye. The uh is tricky because our French e/eu sound doesn't exist in English. Maybe thinking of the first sound of irksome, or the vowel sound in fur, is closer still.
@Iron Fox not 'you'. Oo would work. I've been teaching French in England for years. Your break down would make pronunciation not just wrong but even harder to get out by adding a sound that isn't there in the French word.
Bad flashbacks to English Literature exams
This movie holds a special place in my heart...not because I watched it, but because I took French all throughout high school, and we'd always jokingly suggest Parfum (the French title) as a movie to watch because we knew damn well Madame couldn't show it to us. 😆
Really? In our German class we watched the movie... when we were 14. Tbf our history teacher, when we were discussing the Vietnam War, watched Full Metal Jacket at around the same time
@@HeresorLegacy we watched it in German class when i was around that age too. First we read the whole book together during multiple German lessons, then we watched the movie.
@@m.s.26 same
yeah probably because, while it plays in france it's neither a french story nor french movie. So.... you could have just as well asked for watching the Terminator in french dubs I guess ^^
this film made my feeling of disgust very high
I love how the thumbnail makes it look like a satanic horror movie.
It really does
Story time: the first time I watched "Perfume", I thought it was so unique and 'deep' that I talked it up to a co-worker at work. Apparently she didn't check the rating or really understand the premise, because she took it home and watch it with her parents. She was so angry with me the next day.
She had no right to be angry with you, she should've researched it more before she bought it ...
Maybe she was expecting like a romance comedy type of film or something calm and relaxing👽👽
u did her dirty lmaooo
I assume the sex/nudity is a bit much for some (I haven’t seen the movie) but hardly your issue/problem. 😆
I felt weird when more graphic sex scenes would come up in a movie with my parents too, so I might have come back to work and giving you a bit of a hard time in a joking way.
@@aestheticthedrifterboy5917
Except the murders were no big deal for her. Weird.
I get what you’re saying and agree
A little bit of my soul gets coughed out in laughter every time Ryan says "Hoeyever"
I read this book this year! Kurt Cobain made a song based on this book called 'Scentless Apprentice.' I've yet to see the movie but definitely will now.
I just found out he died. RIP
"Every wet nurse refused to feed him...electrolytes smell like semen"
"He was born a scent-less apprentice..."
...or something like that.
I was a bit curious to know how many people might have read the book. I love the movie and adore the book, although they arent entirely the same.
@@km-hi9wj lol wtf...
The movie and book are very similar. Truly enjoyed both. Now to listen to the song!
For those of you wondering why the scent of his perfume resulted in an orgy is because it was so exquisite and perfect that it invokes something in their very being. If we think of ourselves as God’s creation then we carry a part of God within us. Sex is the most intimate activity conceivable where we physically link ourselves to another to become one. It’s basically getting closest to another fragment of God’s creation and in extension to God himself. It is also the most pleasurable act in the world and God is of course bliss and joy.
Also Grenouille douses himself with the perfume and the scent makes him seem like an angel. The act of eating is also a way of absorbing something into your being. Those people simply had to have a part of the light Grenouille seemed to carry because they were in total darkness.
On a side note I also think it is a metaphor for how mankind always in its selfishness trying to take beauty end in its destruction.
Grenouille killed so many women to create the most wonderful perfume. The people consume Grenouille to satiate their hunger for something more than just food - some kind of spiritual hunger.
Like Ryan said that Grenouille is more human he meant in way that core of all humanity is hunger and Thirst for meaning in empty word
That kinds grosses me out.
Nice take on it ...
Weirdly, this movie made me feel better about being a ginger.
From your profile picture you look very cute! :)
What's bad about being a redhead?
@@matterking1 I'm pretty sure ginger stereotypes are older than South Park, I could be wrong though.
There's nothing to feel bad about in being a ginger! Quite the oppossite actually as natural red hair is one of the most gorgeous attributes in appearence a woman can have
Y'all clearly have no idea what its like to grow up with this hair colour lol it's like a beacon for bullying for some reason 😭
That end scene messed me a little bit up, but the orgy left me disturbed
It reminded me of the orgy from Dune. When Jessica transforms the worm poison into a spectrum awareness drug the massive crowd of Fremen eagerly grab for the wineskin bag to drink the drug and become "aware" of each other.
That scene is pivotal to understanding of how much a masterpiece his perfume really was and the power our sense of smell has on us. It transcends rationality, prejudices, beliefs that it can lead to an act so basal and animalistic.
Also if we think of ourselves as God’s creation or children of God then we carry a part of God within us. Sex is the most intimate activity conceivable where we physically link ourselves to another to become one. It’s basically getting the closest you can be to another fragment of God’s creation and in extension to God himself. It is also the most pleasurable act in the world and God is of course bliss and joy.
Also Grenouille douses himself with the perfume and the scent makes him seem like an angel. The act of eating is also a way of absorbing something into your being. Those people simply had to have a part of the light Grenouille seemed to carry because they were in total darkness.
On a side note I also think it is a metaphor for how mankind always in its selfishness trying to take beauty end in its destruction.
Grenouille killed so many women to create the most wonderful perfume. The people consume Grenouille to satiate their hunger for something more than just food - some kind of spiritual hunger.
I still remember my great-grandmother telling me that a 'lady' always finds her 'perfect scent' that she then wears throughout her life. I also remember a French lady laughing as she said that Americans were obsessed with the smell of soap or fresh linen, while she and others preferred a more musky, human scent. I haven't seen this film, but I did read the book, and found it a very odd, but very satisfying read. Now, after watching your video, I've got to find and watch the movie. Smell is a sense that doesn't receive the attention it deserves, as we seem more interested in sight (witness so many films dependent on CGI).
As its said in the book Scent is the only sense we cannot escape, being integral to everything, its soul
I mean to be fair using CGI in movies as to why we are more interested with sight isn't exactly a fair example. You can't smell movies. You can smell a cinema... But not movies. If you were arguing that movies now tend to go more for instant, dazzling CGI visuals over actual thought and emotion provoking content, I would agree with you 100%.
The average person can be going about their day, working, choring, hanging out with family. Then, at random, your girls perfume or the smell of bread in the oven, or maybe the scent of a cigar will make us think of things like memories and completely distracted us from the present. Scent is a powerful stimuli.
They can’t rely on smell in movies (yet).
Knowing how scent is tied to memories, emotion, etc I could imagine how much it would add to the experience.
The part about Americans being less interested/accepting of musky (natural) smells was really interesting to me and made some sense to me as an American and in general.
@@deltalimabravo6727 I think John Waters may be the only filmmaker to have tried 'smell-o-vision' for one of his movies, but yes; no one's come up with a good way for us to 'smell' a film (tho' that's no doubt something coming in future). The French lady I was talking to did find it amusing that we Americans were so concerned (she said 'obsessed') with smelling 'clean'. I hadn't thought much about it, until I traveled abroad, and took a delight in all the new scents/smells that were unfamiliar. Being an American, though; I still like the smell of fresh linen. :) Maybe our thing about smelling 'clean' comes from our Puritan ancestors, or something. It does seem a very 'American' kind of preference.
Didn't expect Perfume of all films but God is it the best bizarre
Honestly, one of my favourite channels that deconstructs horror and thriller movies.
Thanks!!
I just promo'd this channel 2 nights ago to a horror fan. For me personally, though, I didn't like horror films, limiting my consumption to 2 new flicks at Halloween.. MAYBE.😄
This channel is like my security blanket. I can watch "BTS" of The Grudge, etc., but still feel scared. The deep dives here, of films like "Sinister", are what make me feel safe. (Best video on here, imo.)
absolutely agree on this one :)
I'm so glad you covered this film. I feel like it flew under the radar, but it has an amazing cast and gorgeous cinematography. Hell, I'm hard-pressed to think of many flaws with anything, from the writing to the costumes and setting, it all seems flawless. But, it is one of the best horror movies, and one that manages to make the horrifying acts of the villain grotesquely beautiful.
GWENWEEEE: french for frog...
(as a french speaker it took me a while to get what he was saying. But I know the french language is horrible for anyone who doesn't speak it, so I respect the attempt!)
I took French in school for three years. I still think written French and spoken French are two different languages 😂😂
You make pronouncing words really hard! I can write and read, to some degree, in French, and the grammar wasn't so bad (my first language is Portuguese) but speaking French is much harder.
@@pipitameruje Yeah, it's a concept I can hardly grasp tbh, given that my first language was french so I've never noticed this written/spoken dichotomy.
@@pipitameruje I took French for six years and I completely get the feeling of the "two different languages" situation. It was always easier to do my strictly written assignments rather than the ones that required me to present to the class. 😆
@@zynosgd9982 i wouldn't even know how to write that and french is my second language... well anyway here goes nothing: Grenuilles
@@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose Oh yes. I'd get brilliant grades in written assignments, score crazy high on tests, and then get a meek little grade on orals. I've been to France a couple of times, and hearing it from native speakers helps a lot. I forced myself to use French instead of English to the furthest extent I could manage, but I was always very self conscious of my speaking skills.
I did find the French to be quite amiable to my honest attempts at proper French, and quite amused when I simply had to turn to English to save myself further embarassment. I also felt I was treated better when I tried than when I just started of in English.
Fact: Kurt Cobain loved the book so much he made a song about it called "Scentless Apprentice" in his In Utero album. He said he read it ten times and could relate to the protagonist.
Funfact: It's highly common to read the book in school in Germany
A cool little piece of trivia: the song "Du Riechst So Gut" by the German metal band "Rammstein" was inspired by "Perfume". The band's lead singer, Till Lindemann, is also apparently a fan of the novel.
This movie's atmosphere and concept are so much more interesting and compelling than most horror or thrillers ever made. We need more movies like it.
I saw this title and thought “I wonder if this has anything to do with that book Kurt Cobain based Scentless Apprentice on” now I need to see this
This movie gives me so much nostalgia. We used to read this book during German class and eventually we ended up watching the movie during German class as well. Ever since the story portrayed in both the book and the movie has always stuck with me just because of how bizarre and intriguing it is. So happy to see someone review it!
"Smell has a profoundly powerful effect on our emotions" - laughing emotionlessly in allergy and constantly blocked nose
I feel you bro
This killed me 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ryan you have such a friendly voice. I’m a scaredy cat about horror movies but I love analyzing them so your channel is perfect for me. You don’t make your Analysis unnecessarily scary and it’s really comforting. Your videos are all so entertaining and I hope seeing this makes you happy:)
Ahhhhh he saw it!!! Yay!!:))))
I love this movie(and book) or two reasons. One: it is messed up and dark. And number two: I have a weird obsession with my sense of smell. I like them all. Bad and good. I want it all. I live my life by my nose. Smells have make me cry. The language of this book/movie is amazing. It enthralled me. 🧡 Love.
Had a bizarre experience after watching this film. I had an absolutely surreal nightmare in which I was the literal, biblical Devil and the revelation of this terrible truth was narrated to me by John Hurt, in the precise tone he uses narrating this film. It was legitimately terrifying and it induced in me a feeling of utter despair when I woke.
You aren’t the devil. You are good. If you weren’t good deep down, your dream wouldn’t have disturbed you. You are not irredeemable.
No such thing as the devil
@youtaughtmehowtolive the devil exists but God is more powerful.
This is one of my favourite books and I love the film as well. I have congenital anosmia, meaning I have never been able to smell. One thing I found fascinating about the book that the smells were described so vividly that even I could (almost) imagine them, despite not knowing what the sense of smell is like.
I'm glad that you covered this!! I actually read this book in May and it was such an interesting and fun analysis of humanity and what life means. I really really recommend reading it, bc as much as the movie does a great job of conveying the themes, Patrick Süskind does an amazing job at making the entire experience totally revolting. Which sounds like a complaint but it's absolutely a compliment! Here's something I really was impressed with: "She was one of those languid women made of dark honey, smooth and sweet and terribly sticky, who take control of a room with a syrupy gesture. And she was young, so very young, that the flow of her allure had not grown viscous." By using the words like "terribly sticky", "syrupy", and "viscous" you're overwhelmed by your imagination conjuring up the idea of honey. You feel bloated without eating. That's such an amazing thing to accomplish, and I'm telling you, EVERY sentence in the book is like that... except for when Grenouille is creating a scent. Then, the descriptions have balance and aren't off-putting. It's an author's job to put you into a character's perspective and understand the world that they see, & that's exactly what this book does well.
And that's just like, me nitpicking the word-choice. The other themes you brought up like personal identity, empathy, child abuse, capitalism & elitism, karma/the cycle of life are all present too. I was trying to look into Patrick Süskind (only to find out he's super private and doesn't do interviews... understandable but sad!) and it seems like a lot of college literature classes use this book to talk about these ideas? I totally understand that; it's an amazing source of food-for-thought.
Damn, can't believe Paddington had such a dark past.
I read the book years ago, this was one of Kurt Cobain's favourite books.
Yeah I believe scentless apprentice was based on perfume
@@neonwallacewells7818 Apprentice, not assassin. Cuz the protagonist in the book has no smell on him and he is an apprentice to a perfume shop owner or what not.
yeah I had no idea they made it into a movie. I thought it was a random obscure book only Kurt knew about.
@@mabeylane7163 I remember when I read in an interview him talking about it I went right out and ordered it.
@@sonicmoremusic1 I gotta read it. I always loved scentless apprentice. I think it has Kurt's rawest vocals and it has so much of nirvana's usual cryptic, seemingly nonsensical lyrics that I was really surprised when I found out that it all makes sense and was based on a book.
This movie has eluded me for years! Thank you for bringing back a great memory that had been lost to time, I can now share this movie with others like I've always wanted! Love your content, keep it up man!
You have no idea how much I’ve wanted you to cover this film. My ex girlfriend showed it to me in Cuba and it was really... something. I appreciated it. The conviction of the protagonist and his journey through it. Great film.
I was pretty sure my friend and I were the only ones who ever saw this movie. Please keep reviewing great obscure films.
I watched with my x
Watched this movie in high school with my friends. We loved the book.
I watched it with my SO. Squirmed the whole time.
We read the book in my German class... The movie is pretty awesome too though!
I had to read the book in school
I had a brain injury a few years ago resulting in me losing around 70% of my sense of smell. At first, it was entirely gone. Amazing what a massive difference it made- i felt like I had lost a layer of connection with the rest of the world. My favourite foods tasted flat, I couldn't smell my husband's hair anymore, or freshly cut grass. For a scent I took for granted, my sense of smell added so much dimension to my life.
Uh oh, not so stinky!
This is probably nothing, but I noticed this with the movie. Yellow is a very big color in this movie, and it makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the flower, the sunflower. It has no smell, is a very common flower, is able to grow in snow, grow in very odd places, and it's a pretty cheep flower as well. Might be nothing, but just wanted to share.
This "story" of a murderer is definitely as magical as the perfume Jean- Baptiste concocted. This story isn't just a fictional account, its a parisian LEGEND. He is the legend. This is toyed with in the exchange between the Italian perfumer with Jean in which he tells him about the missing chord, the legend of the scent that came out of the Pharaoh's sarcophagus. He asks "whats a legend" to give the audience a glimpse into this. The idea thst this is narrated by an unseen omniscient storyteller also underscores the myth that you're being led through.
Loved this movie, and of course this soundtrack is one of the best of the decade.
A little late to the party (I am) on this review. The final message of this movie struck a chord with me. I have commented for some time now about how strange deodorants, perfumes, and cologne concepts are. Romantically people who are chemically compatible often like the mild natural scents of their partners. I've heard people in real time talking about how they're attracted to people because they "Are wearing my favorite scent from Axe/some other odorizer".
I'd go as far as to theorize that the phenomena that is cheap accessible perfumes that hide our natural scents completely play a role in some cases of toxic incompatibility that leads to conflicts in relationships. Leaving people who wouldn't naturally be chemically compatible being drawn in by false odor.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for bathing and I don't mind using a bit of pine tar or witch hazel, but the people who dowse themselves in perfumes are wearing a psychological veil that hides their true biological self.
So glad to finally see an analysis video on this movie! My family and i have always loved this movie!
I was only 9 when I saw this movie for the first time. My parents scolded me because I was too young to watch something like this, but I fell in love with this movie right away and it's still my all time favorite movie. The rejection, obsession and loneliness that, that murder went through made me feel sympathy and disgust towards him and made me realize the paradoxical existence of the complexity and, yet, simplicity of the human emotions and actions that exist in every single human being . The sound track is amazing and it's capable of giving a sophisticated desperation aura during the whole movie.
Wasn't something like this an episode of Criminal Minds?
Yeah. But I think the killer was using the scent to make candles. The episode was Sense Memory, its in season 6.
there’s this serial killer in real life that killed and used her victims’ fat to make soap too. can’t remember her name.
Really appreciate you promoting relatively unknown titles. I watched Lake Mungo after seeing the first part of your video on it (I waited until seeing it to finish), and I've never heard of this one or several of the others you do videos on. I've got several in a queue on Prime Video and I think I'll be adding another one today.
Before the musical star Michael Hutchence died, he gave this book to his girlfriend (kylie minogue) at the time. An intense book to give someone and kind of symbolized thier intense relationship.
Only a few years before he lost all sense of smell. This was so important to him. His identity was formed on the senses. Sound was dulled by his lack of perception of scent. His controlling behaviour was amplified by his lack of control over his body. Mental illness, suicidal thoughts and complete social shut down.
Just a fun story that reminded me why this movie confirms identity
Things like bodily smells are more complicated, especially due to the fact that these smells are both quite individual and a matter of our microbiome. But, for the most part, things smelling bad is not the least bit ambiguous. In general, things that smell bad to us do so because they are something that is potentially dangerous, toxic. Foul smells are often the result of bacterial activity and reacting negatively to that smell would help us to avoid eating things that might poison us. Smell is chemical reception. when you smell something, a molecule physically plugs into a receptor in your nose. So what you can or cannot smell depends on having the receptor physically, or whether it is activated. Also, Smell connects directly to the limbic system which is associated with emotions and memory.
Please look at Frailty, or both version of Dark Water. I think they're all worth covering
Ah yes! I am subscribed to you even though I don't watch horror, just for the sake of oddballs like these. Perfume was a good watch for sure, glad you covered it. Very interesting, seeing the movie is all about scent, as this is not a thing that can be distributed in the medium, the imagery is so VERY carefully crafted. The camerawork and lightning is absolutely stunning, the plot macabre yet fulfilling in the elegant packaging. The story of a murderer is indeed a cool point of view, it's unsettling in an almost horror way which fits you well. I hope you do more films like this one.
If he wasn’t cruelly treated by the world when he was growing up, he might have made his perfumes from living enthusiastic volunteers, instead of dead girls.
That wasn’t their faults.
Let’s try not to exonerate violence on the basis of talent. Happens far to often.
Not really. He tried with a prostitute and she panicked and got hysterical. Also he wanted to possess the scent not just smell it.
This was the ultimate validation.
An ex of mine was a self proclaimed movie snob. This ex absolutely opened my mind to sooo many great films. Legitimately.
However, we watched Perfume and they were "meh" untill the end, which changed it to "bad."
My opinion was that the film was captivating. I was hooked. I bought in. But at the end I was...confused. It went from tangible to fantasy in moments. I was wrapped and also unsure.
My ex was bored and unimpressed.
After this video,I dont feel confused anymore. You were able to articulate something I couldn't.
Bravo.
Nice, a sponsor with a dark sense of humor.
Apple Cider will word off fleas. Everyone has their own "perfume'/" which is why he was obsessed not just with young women, but particular women. This was the obsessed part of it all...yet, in the end he was in a world he entered loveless and this sent, the combination could not replace what he was never given. The same as a serial killer, empty regardless of fulfilling his obsession. He this, returns to his place of birth, giving those who betrayed him the false sense of having done anything out of love, like giving birth to, abandoning and creating the killer....
11:54 *"However."*
Me: 😮
Omg,I didn't notice that :O Hope it was just a mispronunciation
@@Riot076
I only noticed bc his first one was SO hard to mimic, lol. I heard the 2nd one and was jarred by it. I *love* this channel. It's in my top 5 of 150, & I have a few of his videos in a playlist. I just legitimately can't understand what Ryan is saying sometimes and that's on me. I couldn't understand Mads Mikkelson's HANNIBAL either.. It's probably an American thing.💗
Me: Quickly pauses the video at 2:58-ish to hastily jot down: MINT, LEMON, CEDAR & LAVENDER - now _ALL_ on my shopping list to ward off this autumn’s spider population from invading my home!🕷😱
Lives with 3 other men
Millennial C O N F I R M E D
Now I'm depressed for everyone.
Finally a Video about this wonderfull piece of Art. I`ve read the book and watched the movie... twice. Because of school we had to analyse the book and tell the differences from it to the film (And there are a lot). And this is one of the very view examples of Art, where you have a absolutly great book and a movie, that ... does something different. That tries to tell a different Story with the charakter without failing in portraiing the books theme. And you know what? It is even better than the book. This ,movie is just perfekt.
Ryan, you had no right making that sponsor as funny as it was.
I actually have an extremely weak sense of smell. I don’t remember the last time I smelled something, which sometimes is a good thing and sometimes is a bad thing. When walking by a garbage dump, it doesn’t bother me even though my friends are fighting to not gag or throw up, but the downside is I don’t notice good smells too like fresh baked cookies or the scent of perfume my girlfriend is trying out. It’s an interesting juxtaposition against this story where smell is such a driving force for the narrative. I don’t have any kind of personal experience to reference for the “power scent has over people” because it’s outside the realm of my experience
I usually skip every sponsor segment in every video I watch as fast as I can, but this time , you got my attention.
I do remeber watching the ending of that film, when I was 8 or 9 years old, one of my family members turned the tv on to see what was on. That movie was on or at least the final scene. I saw the main character infront of the car, I thougt it was some gladiator movie until the scene where he put some weared water thing on his head. I remember feeling nothing when watching them eating him. I couldn't understand there launguege, but the visuelz trully had an impact on me. Opening my eyes to what movies can be.
I like all of your videos, but I found this analysis particularly striking. When you said he was deep into romanticism but was unable to feel emotion, it oddly resonated with me. I've had severe depression for about 3 years, and I've been in a state of numbness for a while, while I'm also someone who deeply values emotion and strives to represent it through art and writing. I want to artistically participate in the emotional world, but my disconnection from it of course makes it difficult.
There is a rumor about the Hautefaye lynching in 1870, were supposedely a criminal was devoured by the crowd (untrue) after being beaten up and burned alive (true); they tried to hang him first but the tree branch they picked was too weak and broke.
It was a rumor that was started by the mayor (a nobleman of the Second-Empire's Aristocracy) and played in full into the "backward brutal cannibal peasant" fears of the time; it is the most directly related event to the scene in Suskind's Perfume.
The guy was suspected to be a Prussian spy, and/or being a Republican (thus against the Imperial Throne); he was neither, and the whole affair is a case of mass hysteria and paranoia in the context of the upcoming Franco-Prussian War.
Plot twist: it was actually from the smell of the woman’s father, who had lived a very fullfilling and happy life and just died recently surrounded by friends and family. The woman was returning home after a long day of grieving for the beloved father with her other loved ones. The murderer was not obsessed with the woman’s scent, but his supernatural sense of smell was actually picking up on the man’s leftover imprint on the world; beloved by many, even in death.
Idk a thought I made up by thinking about it
Nice pfp dude
This is one of my favourite books. The movie was good, but for understandable reasons can't capture a story focused around scent in the same way.
Something I disagree with about the analysis is grenoille as a grim reaper or bringer of death. It's somewhat darker than that since each person he comes into contact with does die, but only in a fashion specifically horrific to them. The lady who ran the orphanage never wanted to die as her mother did from old age in an overcrowded hospices of the sick and dying lying wall to wall. She spent her whole life saving, including the money she got selling him, in order to buy a place with a nurse. She lived to 80, longer than him, but her savings were swindled and she eventually rotted away in the same hotel-dieu her mother died in.
The scent bird sponsorship took me out lmao
EvangelinaGrey i respect the hustle 😎
So, during the video I kept seeing Alan Rickman in the clips that were used, and then later when Sweeney Todd was mentioned my brain went "Hey, he's also in the movie version of that!" Now I may or may not be going down a rabbit hole of "how many horror/thriller movies has Alan Rickman been in where one of the major themes is class?" Thanks, Ryan.
I read this book in high-school (I went to French school in Québec) and its one of my favorites literary experiences 😍 its so bone chillingly cold
Two fun facts :
1 - In the novel, Jean Baptiste Grenouille was described as dwarfish, crippled and ugly ; but instead, we got ... Ben Whishaw
2 - Ben Whishaw also played Q in the Daniel Craig's Bond series, as well as voice Paddington on both films...
I watched this movie with friends as a teen and really found it beautiful. Two years later, it's a new school year and none of my friends are with me in my French class (french is main language in my provinceof Quebec so being alone in French meant being alone for most of school year🍁). I sat in back of the class to feel safe and invisible. The teacher has us read through our manual about descriptive writing and how through words you can convey any of the 5 senses. Many examples were listed and finally, at the bottom of the page, I saw a quote from "Le parfum" and recognized the name Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. I was so excited to read it, but as the teacher asked the class what we thought describing scent could convey, of course, being our main language class at 9am, no students could answer. I pushed my hand up, and openly put myself in spotlight to say I watched this movie, didn't even know it was based on a book, but the fact that through a movie and a book both succeeded in making you 'feel' what J-B was smelling was a success. It can make you feel disgust even though to the main character, there are no wrong smells. On stronger ones. Anyways. I shared my thoughts in front of a class of strangers. Multiple students had turned to look at me as I spoke. I pushed through my agonising anxiety to speak of my love for this movie and I'm still proud that 16 year old me did that. Because the teacher took notice. She asked me after class if I would like to borrow her copy of "Le parfum". Books were sacred to me, so having this teacher share hers was very special to me. I never made friends in that class, but that teacher and I connected through this story. It marked me. It was a book I read not because my friends did but because I was so attached to the story.
It's almost a religious experience for me and I am happy some people may give both the movie and book some attention. Both are worth your time because the book uses words to convey scent (and you really do...'smell' ...through your mind) and the movie uses their visuals. Both deserve more recognition.
Sorry for long comment but I really am so happy to see this video. Thank you Ryan for exploring something different.
I had a seemingly normal sense of smell up until recently, about four years back I started losing it, bit by bit. you don't realize how strong the emotional weight of scent is until you lose it. food doesn't taste as vibrant, every year I can smell the fall leaves a little less. the other day I was washing my hands and suddenly I smelled it, REALLY smelled it. it took me back to a memory of learning how to wash my hands as a toddler. I didn't even know I had that memory.
When you send Scentbird I got ASMR tingles.
Great video! I'm so happy you did Perfume! I loved the book. The film was impressive for not only doing the book justice, it may have even been better. The book has very floral prose and evokes complex emotions rather than being plot heavy, and the film captured that. I would have thought that scent would be too conceptual to capture visually, but Tom Tykwer kept the balance between realism and artistic license beautifully. Maybe because he's also a composer, the concept of scent having notes and creating a harmony was something he understood and could translate. I liked your take about consumerism, I'll have to read and watch again with that frame in mind. ✨Loved your perfume ad 😂
This movie and book inspired me to start my hobby of perfume creation ~
As someone who is very focused on scents for stimming, the story was weirdly relatable ^^
I think there was a criminal minds episode with a very very similar concept, the guy was a supersmeller with mommy issues (I don't remember the exact reason why but it doesn't really matter) who drove a taxi and took young women to preserve their smell by drowning them in the alcohol that's used in modern perfume-making bc its the only smell that blocks out all the other smells that put him in like a constant state of sensory overstimulation
He couldn't just kill em bc there has to be a climactic scene with the fbi busting in on the lair just in time to save the final victim but w/e
Your whispering right at the start made me jump.
Damn it, I wasn't expecting creepy ASMR, Ryan!
Mint, lemon, cedar and lavender? GOOD TO KNOW.
See, i always thought about the "He doesnt have a smell" thing.
Apparently, humans cant recognize their own individual smell. It's something so natural and ingrained, that you cant tell apart.
Sure, we recognize when we are not smelling good, when we need to shower or are smelling of something foreing, but a person cant tell their own natural smell.
So i always imagined that, is not that he doesnt have a smell, is more that, like all of us, he cant distinguish his own smell, and having such a connection with scents, the idea of 'not having a smell' overwhelmed him. Made him feel like a nobody, like nothing, like he never existed.
But that's just my reading of it.
I loved this movie! Such a beautiful film, I’m so glad you covered it.
i remember being in mexico in 2014 and not knowing any channel numbers so just picking the movie channel and this movie came on at 1 am and after watching it forgetting all about it, then years later i has a bizarre dream about it and never realized until a year ago that it was a movie i has watched at 13
Me, who hasn't been able to smell since early childhood: Huh.. all this sounds interesting.
Its a strange thing, very fleeting. Right now I’m in my room and I don’t know what it smells like. You get used to smells quickly (most of the time) but if you don’t smell something for a while you might notice it when you come back.
I remember watching this movie in school when i was 14...
It didn't seem that bad back then when we watched it, I actually really liked the movie (it is a good movie imo).
But the fact that our teaches let us watch it is amazing me right now.
(It was for English class and we were supposed to write a review of the movie in English, I'm Swedish btw)
lol why didn't he just ask the people what kind of soap/perfume they use in the beginning.
silly goose😂
I think the whole point was that each person has their own unique smell that can't be replicated. In other words, he was smelling his victims, not their perfume.
@@jessetheanimenerd3304 I think that was a joke
I forgot all about this movie. I liked most of the film but one thing that bothers me about costume design for filthy people is that the dirt is too evenly spread. There should be specific concentrations where the hands wipe, pits, groin, and feet. They always just have even dirt all over...
It's a good film. It's a shame no-one has seen it.
It was quite the hit in Germany.
I have seen the film for the very first time a year or two years ago. I was speechless but in a good way ^^
My favourite book. I never wanted to finish the book, the story. I rented it from a friend, so I don't have an copy on my own. I watched the movie first. The book is absolutely disgusting and I love it for that. As a German I could read the original without translation mistakes and so on. Sometimes I wished that the story would go more into some other characters and I would for example see the death of Madame Arnulfi, since everyone who helped him died, but she didn't. She was as much a help as Druot, but she gave him a job. Was a little disappointed there but still my favourite. I recommend everyone to read it, I really enjoyed it.
Oh yeah what’s up there Ryan!
Try standing in line at the grocery store behind either an old lady that just left church, or a middle aged man in crisis. You too will feel like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.
I live in Germany and here is the book and the film Compulsory Education in Middle School (the film even has a PG rating here). But I have to admit, I don't like the book or the film. Personally, I consider it extremely overrated and in this work I don't see what is supposed to be somehow intelligent or exciting. To be honest, I find it very questionable why many would like it that way, since the story and the character representation are sometimes very hostile to women. Women are treated here as objects and men as people whom one must respect and with whom one must not mess. In addition, Grenouille as a character is written more than boring. The author Patrick Süskind himself admitted that he didn't think anything while writing and that he just wanted a book that would sell well. I respect everyone who likes the story and I would be interested to hear what others think of it, but personally I found perfume really weak and bad. 🎥📖
PS: sorry for Bad english📖🎥
I haven't seen the film or read the book, but from what Ryan said about the film the presentation of women makes sense, in that it shows the world from the perspective of the main character. All he cares about is their scent, and it's only men that have pushed him around and commanded him throughout his life, whom he tries not to start any trouble with as a result.
Haven’t read the book but I share your feelings about the film. Weak overall and overrated. Your english is just fine! If you would like constructive criticism, I would suggest looking at your sentence structure as I recognised it as more German.
I agree with you but I also think that objectification of women is thematically in line with the proliferation of commodity fetishism and capitalist modes of social organization. From a feminist perspective, The Sorrows of Young Werther is also poorly done. I think that pieces of literature can both have good symbolic power and important lessons divulged through analysis, and serious flaws in how they are written and convey people within the text. I think that such texts can even aid in the propensity to deliver feminist critique.
And lol, yes your English is quite good. Aber mein Deutsch ist nicht 😂
@@rolland890 Well, feminism is not the purpose of this story (hell, this film marginalizes pretty much everyone), and I can already tell it has a highly anti-consumerist theme. You're looking at it from the wrong perspective if that's all you're thinking about.
There was a Criminal Minds episodes with the same exact premise, just based in the modern era. Season 6, Episode 14 "Sense Memory" The movie came first, but I find it interesting.
Every video you make is incredible! No matter the topic
This movie scared me so much as a kid. My parents, aunts and uncles were having a movie marathon. When this movie came next, I was scared asf. Especially when I saw the killing parts, orgy scene and the last part. It still makes me shiver from fear and disgust.
Whenever you say "HowYever", I SQWEEE uncontrolably!
His life has plenty of parallels to the real life Tarrare. A Frenchmen with a unending hunger, who resembled a frog, who was noted for his unbelievably terrible smell. Go read The Wikipedia entry for Tarrare, it’s so completely bonkers. Short bizarre life wrapped in some medical mystery, and since you brought up baby eating.....he may or may not have eaten a baby.
I saw this film in DVD with my parents and my uncle. You can imagine how awkward the orgy scene was, we all actively tried NOT to look at each other during that scene.
This was really interesting! I’d like to see what you make of Head Count. It’s a fairly recent one, and while the low budget is very apparent, it was a really clever movie that you really had to pay attention to