Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

R

2006

2h 25m

Mystery & Thriller

History

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

59%

Tomatometer

132 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

With his incredible talent for discerning scents, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is one of 18th-century France's finest perfumers. He becomes obsessed with capturing an elusive aroma: the scent of young womanhood. His search takes a deadly turn, and when the bodies of 12 young females are found, panic breaks out, with families rushing to lock up their daughters.

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Critics Consensus

Perfume is what you'd expect from a Tom Twyker-directed movie glamorizing a serial killer: a kinetic visual feast, with a dark antihero that's impossible to feel sympathy for.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

Nov 21, 2007

B+

[Its] off-the-charts screwiness obscures virtually all shortcomings.

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Carrie Rickey

Philadelphia Inquirer

Jan 11, 2007

2/4

Tykwer loses his cinematic grip when he tries to blend murder and piety. In his hands, the two don't emulsify.

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Rex Reed

Observer

Jan 10, 2007

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is another nauseous example of style over content: a toxic tale of serial homicide set in 18th-century France that creeps you out faster than it makes you think.

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Wesley Lovell

Cinema Sight

Aug 6, 2026

3.5/4

Finding the humanity in an individual who commits heinous acts is a challenge that requires a strong screenplay and a terrific central performance. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer has both.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Feb 22, 2026

2/4

...a wildly overlong misfire that contains few agreeable attributes.

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Tim Brayton

Alternate Ending

Aug 13, 2024

3.5/5

A movie that is much, much more nuts than it lets on.

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Sara S

@RT78582998 Jul 7, 2026

Surreal beauty, heartbreaking irredeemability, and realistic social outcomes.

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Ed T

@RT25263784 Apr 26, 2026

Like all historical fiction this movie asks the audience to suspend disbelief. This movie begs to invalidate reality entirely. If you can ignore half the cast’s terrible acting (especially Hoffman’s who clearly took on the role to renovate his kitchen) and you turn it off about 10 minutes before the end you might come out thinking it’s a decent film. Not great, mind you. But good. But again that’s asking the audience too much. This is the quintessential example of a movie that could’ve been made okay—even good—with clever editing, IF it hadn’t been ruined by its third act. Nay, not ruined. Completely obliterated. Just like my dreams.

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Gi S

@Gistevenn Apr 16, 2026

One of the stupidest movies i've ever seen in my life.

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John W.

@wilksy Feb 26, 2026

It is solid and well done until the final portion of the film and then it gets silly and pretentious (including a very odd orgy scene)

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A. L. T

@MaxieP Nov 29, 2025

What a waste of great talent (Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman, Dustin Hoffman) on what may be the dumbest, most pretentious movie I've ever seen. Skip it!

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Paul D.

@pdecirce Nov 18, 2025

Perfume is a horror film in many ways, and the horror is the realization that our "hero" is horribly lost in his obsession. It's a period piece in France about a young man in search of controlling the power of smell. It's fairly graphic with some hard to watch scenes, but beautifully filmed, excellent script and an engaging original concept. Fine acting and set design make this gritty world easy to be lost in. Well worth a watch.

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Tom Tykwer

Director

Ben Whishaw

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille

Dustin Hoffman

Guiseppe Baldini

Alan Rickman

Antoine

Rachel Hurd-Wood

Laure Richis

John Hurt

Narrator

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - Water Dunking

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - Purely Out of Love

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - An Angel

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - Excommunicated

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - Human Perfume

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - No Smell of His Own

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - Distilling Scent

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Official Clip - The Plum Girl

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

With his incredible talent for discerning scents, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is one of 18th-century France's finest perfumers. He becomes obsessed with capturing an elusive aroma: the scent of young womanhood. His search takes a deadly turn, and when the bodies of 12 young females are found, panic breaks out, with families rushing to lock up their daughters.

Director: Tom Tykwer
Producer: Bernd Eichinger, Martin Moszkowicz
Screenwriter: Tom Tykwer, Bernd Eichinger, Andrew Birkin
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Castelao Producciones S.A., Nouvelles Éditions de Films [fr], Constantin Film Produktion
Rating: R (Disturbing Images|Aberrant Behavior|Nudity|Sexuality|Violence)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 27, 2006, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 22, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.2M
Runtime: 2h 25m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS

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