Perfume: the Story of a Murder

Perfume stars Ben Whishaw as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, Dustin Hoffman as Giuseppe Baldini and Alan Rickman as Richis.

General theme: Anyone can advance themselves in either taintedness or purity. We all are given the choice to dive deeper into either darkness or light.

Jean-Baptiste's mother introduces him to a gross neglect for human life from the first moment he is born. He was a special person for his extraordinary ability to detect scent but, in light of his lamentable beginnings, it is not surprising that he utilizes his gift for evil. This hints at the general truth that we inherit our parent's sin. How we deal with that inheritance is up to us.

Jean-Baptiste is affected by his absence of self-worth. According to other people's actions, he concludes that he is insignificant. He also lacks scent, which, according to his central purpose in life, would imply that he is worth noticing. This also aides in his decision to kill without remorse. The less regard people have for their God-given worth, the easier it is to dive into selfishness and indulgence, even at the expense of others.

He is a young man overcome with youthful lust. Where most young men are slaves to visual lust, Jean-Baptiste lusts after scent. He resembles any sex-crazed young man who cannot imagine a healthy outlook on the opposite sex.

As Perfume demonstrates, lust pushes out all consideration of others and eventually even rational thought.