I adored the book
I appreciated the movie.
The book is without doubt a different experience, probably more deep and profound, on the other hand the movie is an engaging story. A major hurdle in adapting the book was how to handle an introverted lead character that’s also an unsympathetic, obsessive sociopath. Tykwer’s adapts the novel’s offscreen narrator to offer up a running commentary on events as they occur (the narrator also steps in on occasion to inform us about Grenouille’s state of mind). Tykwer also cheats moviegoers of a meaningful, satisfying ending when he decided to lift Grenouille’s fate straight from the novel. Unfortunately, the novel’s ending may have worked (and still works) on paper -- but here it just feels like it belongs in a soft-core porn entry from the 1970s or the early 1980s.
2 comments:
good review by mel valentin
Spooky: I ordered this on dvd a few days ago and it arrived this morning, to accompany your review!
I liked the book. And Ben Whishaw is an actor who makes a habit of appearing in interesting movies. The promised presence of Dustin Hoffman put me a off a bit - I can't think of a decent film that man has done since The Graduate - but obviously not enough.
I'll have a matinee screening this afternoon and I may even post about it later. That'll be something to look forward to, then...
Post a Comment