Les parfums

This is a good little independent French film that has humor and heart. It's a story for adults, but without sex, thought provoking, and has both humor and sadness. The two main actors are wonderfully understated here and believable as we watch their friendship emerge. I was reminded a little bit of the early seasons of BONES.

Perhaps it's me as an American viewer who doesn't get some of the choices made in structuring the film. Some scenes are cut seemingly short, we never know how she solved the "handbag smell" or stinky factory problem. Likewise, we don't see how she begins to create perfumes again. There is often some wonderful tension in scenes, tension that doesn't fully play out to dramatic effect. It made me wonder what else we missed from these capable actors? But perhaps this is the French way and I'm just used to American dramatics, overacting, and having many more details given for "the swelling of a scene?"

I also subtracted a couple of stars because while this is an enjoyable quiet type of film, the ending did seem highly unlikely considering he was a chauffeur and didn't have her chemistry background (at least she appeared to have a chemistry education). Perhaps had we seen more of them beginning to work together as a team to solve a customer problem together, this wouldn't have seemed such fairy tale type ending. Also, the scene with her doctor was just very odd - it played more like he was going to be a potential romantic interest or something, which felt off and didn't quite mesh with where the story was at at that moment. Nice film, but could've been edited better.

A very long time ago I watched "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989). There are some similarities between that movie and "Perfumes". Not many, but some. Ms Daisy and Anne Walberg are both bossy and yes, it takes a while for them to connect with new people.

Annes driver Guillaume Favre is a divorced man. He has a daughter that he wants to have shared custody of. In other words, he really needs his job. Guillaume isn´t afraid to speak his mind. He doesn´t put up with everything that Anne does or says. But I also think that Anne and Guillaume develop themselves as humans together.

I missed more info about Guillaumes ex-wife. Why did their marriage end? And why is Anne Walberg still single? But all in all I do recommend this movie. I liked it and, who knows, you might like it too.

The story of a friendship between a selfish fragrance designer who is one of the best in her field, and her chauffeur who needs to cling to his job so that he can live with his daughter. There are no surprises or twists in the film, and everything falls into place where you expect it to. Even so, the chemistry between the two lead actors is so great that these cliches seem acceptable. A refreshing French comedy with a few laughs.

A very interesting film because it treats in a unique way the creation of a soul connection between the 2 main characters, the perfumer and the driver. I found out totally new and unusual things for a movie about the world of smells. A human film, full of emotions, feelings, a film in which nothing false, nothing exaggerated intervenes. The actors play excellently and the action is very well developed throughout the film so that you don't get bored for a moment

A few scenes are surprisingly suddenly cut, leaving spectators hungry and a bit angry, wanting to know what could have happened and often could have been very funny. Maybe the director, and script writer himself, suffered from a few minutes of lack of inspiration. Too bad. The movie is saved by the actors, especially Emmanuelle Devos, perfect, very realistic and true-to-life in the role of the « nose ».