This is the story behind my song 'Perfume'. The background picture is my well travelled and well weathered copy. One of the only books I have read over and over again. I can't explain my fascination with it apart from that I have a strange attraction to such a sick, twisted story line, examining a darker side of life, and written with such conviction that you actually feel compassion for this horrible man who is a spiteful murderer.

Synopsis

A taste

Trivia

Film

Song

Suskind

Now this is interesting. The movie based on 'Perfume' is currently being filmed in Spain and the South of France, with studio work to be done In Munich's Bavaria Film Studios. Directed by German born Tom Tykwer ('Run Lola Run') who has written the script with Bernard Eichinger ('Resident Evil' , 'Fantastic Four' ... !!! ) , it will star Dustin Hoffman (as Giuseppe Baldini) , Alan Rickman (as Antoine Richis) and little known British actor Ben Whishaw (who took a minor role as Sidney in 'Layer Cake') as Grenouille the Tick. The production company is Germany's 'Constantin Film' .

So it all looks relatively promising, but it is the prodcution of the film that has lead me to create this little micro-site. Films often have a tendency to pervert the original material. Blockbuster films often end up being more famous than the books from which they take their inspiration. It would be a great shame if this happened with 'Perfume'. It would also be a great shame if the film is crap! So I want to make it known that I wrote the song before seeing the film, and I want to tell as many people about the book as possible. But I really hope the film is very good, and does the story justice, as it should. That would be an olfacto-visual feast. The thing is, apparently Stanley Kubrick bought and owned the rights to the film for many years before giving them up. He decided that it would be impossible to make a film from the story. I am a big Kubrick fan so am therefore pessimistic. If the great man couldn't do it then who could?!

The film 'Perfume' is due for release in November 2006.