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Perfume The Story of a Murderer
Perfume The Story of a Murderer
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
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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.
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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

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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
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Settings
Paris, France Fish Market Orphanage
Tannery Ponte Au Change Perfume Shop Massif
Central Montpellier Grasse
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Victims
The Girl with the Plums The prostitute Lavender
Picker The Twins Laure 19 other girls
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Methods
Memorization Distillation Hot enfleurage Cold
enfleurage
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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.
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Perfume
Directed by Tom Tykwer
Budget cinquante million Gross 132,180,323
(Worldwide)
Starring Birgit Minichmayr Grenouilles
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 Baldinis wife Rachel
Hurd-Wood Laure Richis Alan Rickman Antoine
Richis Paul Berrondo Druot Released in Europe
in 2006 and 2007 in America.
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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
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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.
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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.

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