Perfume de mujer

Hollywood remakes are usually worse. just saw the film and yes the Hollywood remake is nowhere close to this great masterpiece. small intricacies, dialogues and excellent characterization along with brilliant use of humor make it excellent and beyond comparison. this is a landmark masterpiece. no one can match Vittoria Gassman. you know what he thinks and what kind of person he is and how he would react in a particular situation. great direction. whats amazing is the way a blind man is made so intertingly funny that you do not want to blink, you may miss somethin. a must see

Honestly, I'm only writing this to counteract absurd comments by other users. One comment and I'll say no more about it:

-----Start rant----- I HATE substandard, big star, corporate, homogenized movies. I hated the Bird Cage, I hated Point of No Return, I hated City of Angels, I hated Shall We Dance?(US) and every other movie that simply took a decent foreign film and photocopied it with familiar names in starring roles with dumbed-down dialogue because nobody thought that YOU were smart enough to understand the original. The whole world enjoys movies from other countries, enjoys visions of life in other places represented through film except the good 'ol USA that simply puts a veneer of saccharin over anything internationally successful to create unnecessary and boring hybrids. You don't have to be an intellectual to enjoy foreign movies, you simply have to have a brain in your head. -----End rant-----

The film is delicate, and presents a wonderful array of issues related to Italian culture at the time: inadequacy in the face of a changing world, individual impotence when fronted with social and personal injustice, and of course, that strange version of love only the Italians can put on screen.

The film has had a remake, and I found it inferior in just about every way. The original is simply good film-making, not an obvious ripoff that's been pasteurized to cater to a fast-food audience. Gassman is subtle, his manners and style give the film a slow pace, sometimes too slow for my tastes, but it's forgivable if you focus on other facets of the film, like the camera work and the faithful representations of culture through the dialogue. I've never liked Pacino, he's always seemed incredibly boring and stale to me, and his idea of subtlety is whether he should speak a bit more loudly or a lot more loudly. Except for maybe the first Godfather where he was fresh and not yet ruined by the studio life.

If you don't speak Italian, you'll have to read along, but the translation I saw on the DVD was pretty good.

See this film when you've had a bad day at work and you want to see how life could be worse AND better in one fell swoop...

Only 2 User comments available at the time I decided to write this one and both of them negative. Both of them Typical American reaction to a European movie. A big misunderstanding. Yes, the Remake with Pacino is a good movie and nothing else. The original one, "Profumo di Donna" is a great masterpiece, and it makes a big difference. My piece of advice : do not try to watch "Profumo di Donna" with a Hollywood eye.

"Profumo di dona"is not only an italian film with exuberant delight of life, it's the pride of Europe and european 7th Art. Why? Because of good playing, good production and of course good scenario. I don't know why American had to do a remake? Or perhaps european sensibility doesn't mean anything in USA? That film give us the opportunity to be happy as human being, to be happy to live. That's why cinema is so magic!

It is some time since I have seen both versions of the film, but Dino Risi's original left an indelible mark, unlike the lightweight Hollywood incarnation. The dark, atmospheric "Profumo di Donna" showcases a powerful performance by Vitorrio Gassman - "non sono un leone" reverberates with the tragic realisation of a strong man defeated. Hollywood is so adept at picking a good story well told and churning it out in the familiar mould - big budget, big name lead - but, hey - horses for courses! Most English speaking viewers can't be discomfited to read subtitles and, unless a film is dubbed, would gladly deny its virtue.