Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) born with no family, no money and no sense of odor, develops a keen sense of smell on his own, when left sniffing his way around a small village. Exotic, exciting and mesmerizing for the viewer, next thing we knows, he embarks on a mission via a perfumer (Dustin Hoffman) to create the world’s finest cologne. His work becomes an obsession that usually involves beautiful virgin redheads. One is the daughter of Antoine (Alan Rickman) who he’ll stop at nothing to possess. Part Fairy Tale, the story begins whimsical and suddenly turns to teen slasher/chiller to finally being just too contrived in the third act. When our lovable orphan Jean Baptiste goes from poor boy to monster, suddenly we find our direction shifting to Rickman’s character, after losing touch with our star, who has also managed to lose touch with himself and his senses. Two tiaras.
