Nicholas:
The screen adaptation of Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer really is a must-see film. Although Suskind's book was a genuine best seller, the movie didn't fare as well, at least not in America. I suspect this had more to do with the reluctance of the distributors to market it properly than the direction of Tom Tykwer. When you hear half-assed comments in the industry such as "It didn't test well" and "Older women didn't like the violence" that's code for "We didn't sneak it at midnight for the 18- to 24-old-year olds because the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) had already told us it wouldn't get a pass or even an R-rating" That, from the descendents of the Hay's Office who figure if the movie industry doesn't police itself, the Government will. What's curious is that the violence and nudity in Perfume are relatively tame compared to the surfeit of slasher films, zombie romps and vampyre bite-me-thons that have 'em lined up around the block at the plex. Go figure.
What Perfume really amounts to is a classic dark film with a unique storyline and superb production values that is waiting for reappraisal and a new audience to discover it. This happens in filmmaking every now and then, and it will with this picture. Watch it on DVD or Blu-ray Disc. It's a gem!
JMB
New book
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storeynicholas
JMB -
I agree with your main point. Certainly, some of the violence shown in box office hits is really quite graphic and unsettling if you are not expecting it - the latest two Bond films, for a start and, going back a bit, The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal are, in places, totally revolting - eating the brain of a living human being, by cutting the top of his skull off?? But if they get big players onboard they seem to get away with it. Match Point is another in which there is dreadful carnage (blasting an old lady away with a shotgun and then taking her rings to mock-up a robbery??) - and the perpetrator even gets away with it.
NJS
I agree with your main point. Certainly, some of the violence shown in box office hits is really quite graphic and unsettling if you are not expecting it - the latest two Bond films, for a start and, going back a bit, The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal are, in places, totally revolting - eating the brain of a living human being, by cutting the top of his skull off?? But if they get big players onboard they seem to get away with it. Match Point is another in which there is dreadful carnage (blasting an old lady away with a shotgun and then taking her rings to mock-up a robbery??) - and the perpetrator even gets away with it.
NJS
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Jordan Marc
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Nicholas:
Murder and mayhem aside, my real reason for suggesting you watch Perfume has to do with the magic of making scents. Imagine a bloody baby being born on the cobbles of a filthy marketplace in old France and kicked away by his wretched mother screaming in pain. Is it possible that this infant could reach childhood after being sold for a few coins to a tannery where hides are boiled in huge stinking vats? Now
see the child as an earnest young man sent to deliver an order from the tannery and getting sidetracked by following elegantly dressed people through the narrow streets, entranced by the different scents worn by men and women alike. By chance he passes a parfumery on an old bridge, peers at the wonderful display of
perfume bottles through the windows and pushes his way inside the shop, where his world will change forever.
The owner of the parfumery, played by Dustin Hoffman in his usual over-the-top manner with an idiotic-
looking wig plopped on his head, takes the young man in and attempts to teach him the trade and the importance of having a keen nose, though it soon becomes apparent that the protege knows more than
the master and can lay his hands on essences and wisps of delicate fragrances the origins of which cannot
be explained and the demand for which cannot be supplied in sufficient amounts to please eager customers. Might there be a connection to a string of young attractive women found murdered in the
streets at night? Watch the movie and see what happens next.
JMB
Murder and mayhem aside, my real reason for suggesting you watch Perfume has to do with the magic of making scents. Imagine a bloody baby being born on the cobbles of a filthy marketplace in old France and kicked away by his wretched mother screaming in pain. Is it possible that this infant could reach childhood after being sold for a few coins to a tannery where hides are boiled in huge stinking vats? Now
see the child as an earnest young man sent to deliver an order from the tannery and getting sidetracked by following elegantly dressed people through the narrow streets, entranced by the different scents worn by men and women alike. By chance he passes a parfumery on an old bridge, peers at the wonderful display of
perfume bottles through the windows and pushes his way inside the shop, where his world will change forever.
The owner of the parfumery, played by Dustin Hoffman in his usual over-the-top manner with an idiotic-
looking wig plopped on his head, takes the young man in and attempts to teach him the trade and the importance of having a keen nose, though it soon becomes apparent that the protege knows more than
the master and can lay his hands on essences and wisps of delicate fragrances the origins of which cannot
be explained and the demand for which cannot be supplied in sufficient amounts to please eager customers. Might there be a connection to a string of young attractive women found murdered in the
streets at night? Watch the movie and see what happens next.
JMB
I had a classmate whose ambition was to become a nose... except that he knew that he should neither smoke nor drink lest his olfactory nerves lose some critical degree of sensitivity. We lost touch so I don't know what became of him.
Anyway, I thought that whilst the set designs were excellent and the visual aspects were really rather good, the film did not do justice to the book. To me, the film seemed two dimensional in comparison to the book. Still worth watching the film, however.
Anyway, I thought that whilst the set designs were excellent and the visual aspects were really rather good, the film did not do justice to the book. To me, the film seemed two dimensional in comparison to the book. Still worth watching the film, however.
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Jordan Marc
- Posts: 324
- Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:59 pm
- Contact:
Shredder:
You've touched on one of the most difficult problems to solve when adapting a novel for the screen. A good work of fiction is always more dimensional than a script because it's quite a bit longer and fully flushed out by the novelist. While it's his voice and style that carry you along, a good writer will leave room for the reader to use his own imagination. That's the beauty of the three-dimensional quality to which you refer.
On the other hand, a screenwriter cannot put every page of a novel in his script. A first-rate adaptation is
really nothing more than a metaphor for the book. Sometimes that involves dispensing with entire sections of the novel, or deleting subplots because they don't really propel the story forward. By the same token, a secondary character who might have been a delight in a book may be relegated to an extra doing nothing more than glancing over his shoulder as a lead player passes him on the street. That can give a member of the audience a feeling of a two-dimensional situation because it differs from the book. You also have to take into account what a big honking movie camera can see or do in the hands of a great cinematographer. One long sustained sequence captured by Greg Toland or Jack Cardiff can do away with a good number of pages from any book. Great visuals trump pages of dialogue every time. There's an anecdote that Omar Sharif tells about working with David Lean on Doctor Zhivago. The director said: "Don't act. All I want from you is a reaction shot. The visual sequence that precedes your reaction will tell the story."
JMB
You've touched on one of the most difficult problems to solve when adapting a novel for the screen. A good work of fiction is always more dimensional than a script because it's quite a bit longer and fully flushed out by the novelist. While it's his voice and style that carry you along, a good writer will leave room for the reader to use his own imagination. That's the beauty of the three-dimensional quality to which you refer.
On the other hand, a screenwriter cannot put every page of a novel in his script. A first-rate adaptation is
really nothing more than a metaphor for the book. Sometimes that involves dispensing with entire sections of the novel, or deleting subplots because they don't really propel the story forward. By the same token, a secondary character who might have been a delight in a book may be relegated to an extra doing nothing more than glancing over his shoulder as a lead player passes him on the street. That can give a member of the audience a feeling of a two-dimensional situation because it differs from the book. You also have to take into account what a big honking movie camera can see or do in the hands of a great cinematographer. One long sustained sequence captured by Greg Toland or Jack Cardiff can do away with a good number of pages from any book. Great visuals trump pages of dialogue every time. There's an anecdote that Omar Sharif tells about working with David Lean on Doctor Zhivago. The director said: "Don't act. All I want from you is a reaction shot. The visual sequence that precedes your reaction will tell the story."
JMB
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storeynicholas
History Of Men's Accessories - A Short Guide For Men About Town will be published by Pen & Sword Books on 20th January 2011. After that, there will be one on the sporting life and then a fourth on some great British Adventurers.
NJS
NJS
Congratulations, NJS! I see you go from strength to strength. It's nice to have these to look forward to. Dare we anticipate that the fifth volume may treat the exploits of some great British Adventuresses? Or is that covered under the sporting life?
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storeynicholas
There are several adventuresses in the Adventurers' book! As usual, it is a somewhat whimsical mix but I hope that the choices (which have to be reasonably representative of the enormous number of candidates) have a reasonable basis in my selection. This I explain at the beginning of the book which, at the moment, is skeletal. I have also selected a certain period in history and sought to include some remarkable (but lesser known) characters, on the basis that the most famous have been worked over so much and so often that it seems impertinent to include succint sketches of them and their exploits. However, this is going to be a long task (delivery in November 2011) and, in the meantime, I have to complete the index for Book II (a ghastly job, as I am sure that you know) and finish Book III for delivery in November this year. The publisher does not see that there is much of a US market for Book IV but I am sure that there is!
NJS
NJS
When will the new book be available with USA book sellers? I look forward to reading it.
Cordovan
Cordovan
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storeynicholas
Couch and Cordovan - Thanks for the interest. The best deals for many books internationally seem to be through Book Depository, with free international shipping. My next book is available for discounted pre-order, through them, here:Cordovan wrote:When will the new book be available with USA book sellers? I look forward to reading it.
Cordovan
http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781 ... ccessories
best,
NJS
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storeynicholas
As my books are reprinted (DV) - the first one already has been - I am keeping files on corrections, amendments and additions and should value any suggestions for corrections from readers who spot any mistakes in relation to anything at all. I should add that I am removing the directory from Book I as it is too much to have to keep up with business moves, mergers and closures.
Ha! That means I've got the first edition! How cool is THAT? 
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storeynicholas
The last reprint did not contain any changes and does not even say that it is second impression but the next printing should include changes, so I suppose that you have got a first edition. However, you'll need to hang on to it for 50 years before it is worth more than the price that you paid for it. 
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storeynicholas
My "History of Men's Accessories: A Short Guide For Men About Town" was published a little late but is now available at all the usual places: amazon sites; book depository and so forth.
NJS
NJS
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