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Post by Dominique on Dec 26, 2006 17:56:48 GMT -5
it doesnt come out here until January 11 so I still have awhile to wait
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Dec 29, 2006 14:49:49 GMT -5
I know I'm late with the whole Chapters 41-45 and so I won't write about them all. But there's one thing you guys didn't mention: that Richis needed Laure for business purposes. In his lustful eyes, Laure is a captivating woman that he wants and cannot have, implying that he thinks of her as a possession at some points. (But he never strays from his dutiful role of father, which is always good.) Suskind wrote that there was a business rivalry between Richis and G: one needed her for status and the other needed her for his passion. I thought it was demeaning that one would think of their daughter as a means to obtain a higher social status, but then again, this behavior and attitude fits the time period correctly I suppose.
Now I'm going to finish the book with Chapters 46-51: When Richis found Laure's body stripped naked and dead the morning after their departure, the news spread like fire. Grasse began looking for suspects and locked down on security. Now, I know this may seem a little odd, but shouldn't they have been looking for suspects well before the 25th girl died? I know they tried, but they should've locked down before beautiful Laure died. That might not have made sense to the people, or perhaps Suskind just didn't want it to seem like a big deal. I mean lots of those girls were the migrant workers' daughters, but they're still humans.
When they found that it was G, all the citizens rejoiced. I mean, with all the incriminating evidence found, the night gowns and hair, it would have been sort of hard for G to convince the authorities that he hadn't done it. After the sentence, and it seemed it would be a painful death, 10,000 people came to see G die. But G had his perfumes and as soon as people smelled him, they couldn't believe that he was the murderer because he was "innocence personified" and an "angel". And then came the orgy. I personally had no idea something like this was going to happen. Was it a complete surprise to anyone else? This incident just showed G how powerful his scents could be. And he got angry with himself because he was inspiring love (I would say he was inspiring lust) and he never liked the emotion of love and he wanted hate. The perfume was so powerful it made Richis ask G to be his son because he was like his daughter.
I found how G died very weird. After acting so long like a dog of prey, he willingly gave himself up to a pack of wolves (well, men that tore him to shreds like wolves). The vicious animal portrayed what he was and how he ended.
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Isa
Administrator
Posts: 6,995
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Post by Isa on Dec 29, 2006 16:13:58 GMT -5
To answer your first question as to why they stopped looking for a suspect, I really think that when the killings stopped after the excommunication, people were gullible enough to believe that it was an act of God and therefore felt pretty sure that the killing spree was over and that's probably why they stopped looking. But as far as the orgy goes, nope, I really didn't see that one coming! I mean, I had a notion that he would try to fool people with some sort of smell, but not one that induced uncontrolable lust! But I liked how Suskind wrote that the man born with no scent who had always lived without love was now escaping death thanks to this perfume that made everyone love him unconditionnally.
I also thought it was interesting, in Chapter 50, when Richis brings Grenouille home and vows to love him as he had loved his daughter thanks, among other things, to the fact that they had the same hair (going back to that red hair thing - one could write an entire essay on this topic!). And of course, we all saw it coming, Dominique Druot got arrested and died for the murders Grenouille had committed, because no one in this book can take the slightest advantage of Grenouille without coming to an untimely death.
I also thought it was weird the way Grenouille finally died - almost disappointing, in fact - but I like your analysis Kristie: he wasn't much of a human being, he lived his entire life like an animal, and died like one too.
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Post by Dominique on Dec 30, 2006 23:31:10 GMT -5
I thought the ending was definately a shock, but I liked the way he died. It was like no one wanted him throughout most of his life, but at the end of it they desired him so much they ripped him to shreds. I thought it was kind of ironic and also very shocking. A lot more exciting than the middle of the book!
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Jan 2, 2007 15:17:31 GMT -5
Should we move onto Fahrenheit 451? I think we're done discussing Perfume for now anyways. I'm going to go ahead and start F451 in the thread.
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Post by Dominique on Feb 5, 2007 8:18:33 GMT -5
ok I saw the movie tonight with neh (thought I'd post it here for organisation's sake) and I have to say the fact that G was: A: a brunette and B: not grotesque or mildly unattractive was very distracting.
I have to say the film wasn't very true to the book. The book went on and on about G's innate evilness due to his unsmelliness and there was but one line about it in the movie. I think people who hadn't read the book wouldn't pick up on the fact that that's why he gets away with sneaking around everywhere from that one line.
Also they made G's character much more sympathetic.
It wasn't too bad though I suppose and at least they managed to cut the 150 pages of G lying around in a mountain down to about 2 mins. (Although did anyone notice that the narrator said he had eaten a sausage mere weeks before he left the mountain? And yet he hasn't seen civilisation and his haircut it more than a few weeks overdue and in the book he's in there for years?)
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Feb 6, 2007 6:13:02 GMT -5
MY comments on the film: (not to diss any made by Dom, for goodness knows i'm not the brave!) - BOOK TO MOVIE ISSUES They romanticised it, of course, in the finale - it's movieland. A villian needs a soft side. They barely focussed on his having no scent and it being one of the main reasons he could kill repeatedly without notice - it's movieland. Who'd pay attention to that or question it? He stayed in the cave for 'weeks' as oppossed to two years - it's movieland. The film was already long enough. He was handsome - he was really cute - no, really. They can't possibly vouch for that.
Overall it was relatviely well produced. I nearly threw up watching the opening scenes so they certainly did that effectively! UGH! *shudders at memory* And i yelled out "NO!" in one instance when a kitty cat was involved in his obsessive need to prove all things have a scent to be captured. (you actually pitied him a little in those moments with D Hoffman's character - he was so determined and certain, poor sod) Apart from his being rather too handsome to convince physically as Grenouille, Ben Whishaw i felt did his role very well; he freaked the hell out of me sometimes, i tell ya! Alan Rickman didn't have much to do but he was the only adult with some sense and his reaction when he found Laura was heartwrenching.... speaking of which, Rachel looked lovely lovely lovely but had even less to do, although she still has those moments of looking at someone in such a way that is says about 2 pages of dialogue for her and you just go 'wow" (at least, i find that). And when she said the line to Alan "so all this is because you had a bad dream?" it's as though she slapped him down. Karloine Herfruth, as the allusive "Plum Girl" was lovely too; you could see why her scent or rather the fleeting memory of it was haunting Grenouille long after he had killed her, and for that moment when she offered him a plum in the street, you believed, despite the foolishness of doing so, that she would be one to show him love and turn him around. Beautiful score and cinematography too.
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Post by Dominique on Feb 6, 2007 6:19:21 GMT -5
He was handsome - he was really cute - no, really. They can't possibly vouch for that. Apart from his being rather too handsome to convince physically as Grenouille, Ben Whishaw i felt did his role very well; he freaked the hell out of me sometimes, i tell ya! I was like ooh Grenouille you can cover me in hot (massage) oil any time you like Rather than being like oh so scary gothic figure like the book is supposed to be lol (get it cos he covered his victims in oil to get the perfume, lol I'm so lame) And i yelled out "NO!" in one instance when a kitty cat was involved in his obsessive need to prove all things have a scent to be captured. the cat would have been more disturbing if it didn't look like a rubber chicken But then you closed your eyes cos you knew what was coming
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Feb 6, 2007 6:23:02 GMT -5
You will ALWAYS be so insensitive to my emotions regarding animals, won't you DOM! *evil grin*
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Post by Dominique on Feb 6, 2007 6:25:41 GMT -5
only when they're made out of rubber. But not rubber ducky I could never foresake rubber ducky.
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neh
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I live in two worlds; one is a world of books"
Posts: 943
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Post by neh on Feb 6, 2007 6:28:16 GMT -5
*refrains from singing Ernie's "Rubber Ducky" song* But all-inall, it was a good film. Not enjoyable (for that doesn't necessarily encompass a well-made film, besides we all knew this was never going to be a fun romp! i mean, the title alone says it all!) but good. Fair bit of nudity and the finale was ... bizarre ... to sit and watch.
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