Movie adaptation

The film based on the novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind was made in from 2006, and was directed by Tom Tykwer. The film begins with a flash-forward. The adult Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is in prison in Paris. He is led out of his cell, after which his death sentence is announced in front of the waiting crowd.

The film version is accompanied by a male off-screen voice, which takes over the function of the narrator in the book in selected scenes. At the beginning, for example, the voice gives an overview of the living conditions and smells of the people in 18th century France. Also, the voice comes in whenever one of the minor characters (Madame Gaillard, Gerber Grimal) dies once Grenouille has left them.

As in the novel, the main character speaks very little in the film itself. Instead, the background voice takes on the task of providing additional information.

The novel characters of the nurse Bussie and Father Terrier do not appear in the film adaptation. In the film, Jean-Baptiste is immediately placed in the care of Madame Gaillard as a baby. There, little Jean-Baptiste sniffs the finger of one of the other orphans, who then try to kill him because they are afraid of him. Madame Gaillard prevents this.

When there is no more room for Grenouille in the orphanage, Madame Gaillard sells the boy to the tanner Grimal. On her way back from Grimal, Madame Gaillard is attacked and murdered in an alley by two men. In the novel, she dies of natural causes.

On his first visit to the city, Grenouille meets the plum seller. At first he pursues her, and the two even have a direct confrontation. She offers him plums, Jean-Ba...