Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Perfume: The Story of a Murderer He lived to find beauty. He killed to possess it. By: Claudette By: Claudette By: Claudette

Plot In eighteenth century France, Jean Baptiste Grenouille, a charity orphan with an extraordinary olfactory sense is born in the fish market in Paris, on July 17, 1738 . He becomes obsessed with the idea of preserving the human scent of beautiful young girls. His misguided infatuation leads him on a murderous quest to create the perfect perfume, but at the end of it all, he realizes that nothing can supplant human companionship or suffice for love. Lonely and heartbroken, Jean Baptiste mourns the deaths of all of his victims, especially that of a shy servant girl and a beautiful young aristocrat Laura Richis.

Characters Jean-Baptiste Grenouille Grenouille's mother Father Terrier Madame Gaillard Children at the Boarding House Grimal The Girl with the Plums Giuseppe Baldini Chénier Pélissier Taillade-Espinasse Madame Arnulfi Dominique Druot Antoine Richis Laure Richis

Themes Black humor Emotionally or mentally inadequate people Hatred of humanity Grenouille as agent of death Children as subhuman Theory of the sovereignty of scent Seeing others' lives as mere snippets

Settings Paris, France Fish Market Orphanage Tannery Ponte Au Change Perfume Shop Massif Central Montpellier Grasse

The Girl with the Plums The prostitute Lavender Picker The Twins Laure Victims The Girl with the Plums The prostitute Lavender Picker The Twins Laure 19 other girls

Methods Memorization Distillation Hot enfleurage Cold enfleurage

Patrick Süskind Date of Birth: March 26, 1949 in Ambach in Germany to the late Wilhelm Emanuel Süskind, a journalist and writer on language. Patrick Süskind studied Medieval and Modern History at the University of Munich and Aix-en-Provence between 1968 and 1974. in Munich and was a writer for television before he wrote Perfume. His second novel, The Pigeon, later adapted as a play, was first staged at the BAC Theatre in London in May 1993. His play, The Double-Bass was first staged in Munich in 1981 and has since become one of the most performed plays in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. His novella, The Story of Mr Sommer, was published in 1992 and like Perfume has been a huge success all over the world. Süskind resides almost anonymously in Munich. He has refused to give any interviews for over twenty years.

Perfume Directed by: Tom Tykwer Budget: cinquante million Gross: $132,180,323 (Worldwide) Starring: Birgit Minichmayr: Grenouille’s mother Ben Whishaw: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille Sian Thomas: Madame Gaillard Sam Douglas: Grimal Jaume Montané: Pélissier Karoline Herfurth: The Plum Girl Dustin Hoffman: Baldini Dora Romano: Baldini’s wife Rachel Hurd-Wood: Laure Richis Alan Rickman: Antoine Richis Paul Berrondo: Druot Released in Europe in 2006 and 2007 in America.

Fun Facts Fun Facts Quotes Quotes “When they finally did dare it, at first with stolen glances and then candid ones, they had to smile. They were uncommonly proud. For the first time they had done something out of love.” - Narrator “Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will.” – Baldini “The cry that followed his birth, the cry with which he had brought himself to people's attention and his mother to the gallows, was not an instinctive cry for sympathy and love. That cry, emitted upon careful consideration, one might almost say upon mature consideration, was the newborn's decision against love and nevertheless for life.”- Narrator “We are familiar with people who seek out solitude: penitents, failures, saints, or prophets.” - Narrator

Fun Facts More than 12 million copies have been sold and translated into 46 languages. This novel was on the bestselling list of the German weekly news magazine "Der Spiegel" for nine years. Some editions of Perfume have as their cover image Antoine Watteau's painting Jupiter and Antiope, which depicts a murdered woman. 51 chapters total. Patrick Süskind refuses the literary world largely is almost no interviews, does not appear in public and there are hardly any photos of him. Only three photos are found of him on the internet.

Adaptions A film adaption, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, co-written and directed by Tom Tykwer, premiered in Germany on September 14th 2006. A Russian musical adaptation of the novel, Perfumer, premiered on December 5th 2010 in Moscow. The song "Scentless Apprentice", by the American band Nirvana, was inspired by Perfume. The band's lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain often described the novel as one of his favorite books. The song "Herr Spiegelmann" from the Portuguese metal band Moonspell contains an excerpt from the book. The song "Red Head Girl" by French duo Air is inspired by Perfume. The song You smell so good by German band Rammstein was inspired by the book, which is the lead singer's favorite book. Marilyn Manson credits the novel as one of the inspirations behind the title of his second album, Smells like Children. The episode “Sense Memory" of the television show Criminal Minds was inspired by the novel. The song "Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met)" by American band Panic! At The Disco is inspired by Perfume. In 2006, French fashion designer Thierry Mugler created a perfume coffret that held fifteen perfumes that were based on the movie Perfume. The coffret cost sept cent dollars.

References Süskind, Patrick. Perfume. Trans. John E. Woods. New York: Vintage International, 1986. Gradesaver.com 1999-2011 GradeSaver LLC. Youtube.com