Olfactory fable about an 18th-century freak of nature, "born with a talent that made him unique among mankind," namely the world's most sensitive nose, to go along with a yearning to recapture the aromatic essence of the young virgin he had once killed by accident -- even if, in order to recapture it, he must kill again and again. Tom Tykwer's adaptation of the Patrick Suskind novel boasts some kinky eroticism, some Daumier-esque squalor, and some uncommonly crystalline cinematography. (You can practically count the petals on flowers, the leaves on trees.) The film is not, however, so easy on the ears, what with John Hurt's arch narration, straight from the book, and Dustin Hoffman's uncertain accent as a demure Italian perfumer in Paris. And the British Ben Whishaw, in the lead role, is easier on the eyes than the novelist envisioned, a major component in the monster's overall whitewash. With Rachel Hurd-Wood and Alan Rickman. (2007) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.