Derek Smee
- 2006
- R
- AddPerfume: The Story of a Murdererto QueueAddPerfume: The Story of a Murdererto top of Queue
An obsessive French perfumer with a highly developed olfactory sense and an all-consuming drive to capture the essence of love eventually resorts to murder in his unrepentant quest to find the key ingredient for his recipe in director Tom Tykwer's adaptation of author Patrick Suskind's best-selling 1985 novel. Born in a fetid fish market and raised in a dilapidated orphanage, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) toiled his childhood away in a rank tannery run by the thuggish Grimal (Sam Douglas). Subsequently obsessed by smell, Grenouille's keen olfactory sense becomes so finely tuned that it eventually overpowers such human qualities as love and compassion. Though he has indeed discovered the unmistakable scent of a woman, Grenouille finds it impossible to connect with the fairer sex on any sort of meaningful level. Roaming the streets of Paris late one night, Grenouille catches the scent of a young girl selling plums and impulsively strangles her, later sniffing her nude corpse in a twisted attempt to preserve the distinctive scent in his memory. After persuading legendary perfumer Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman) to take him on as an apprentice, Grenouille travels to the town of Grasse in Southern France in order to learn the art of enfleurage at a firm run by the highly respected Mme. Arnulfi (Corinna Harfouch). It is there that Grenouille becomes dangerously drawn to the vestal aroma of the young and beautiful Laura (Rachel Hurd-Wood), the daughter of widower merchant Antione Richis (Alan Rickman). Soon driven to madness by such a pure scent, the spellbound Grenouille continues to claim the lives of the numerous young girls in a tragic attempt to bottle the impossibly elusive smell of virginal womanhood. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman, (more)
- 1970
In the third episode of the four-part story "Spearhead From Space," the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) squares off against the alien Autons, who, in league with plastics manufacturer Channing, have arrived on earth as a vanguard for the invading Nestene Consciousness. Unfortunately, neither the Doctor nor his colleagues at U.N.I.T. are much of a match for the Autons, whose deadly weapons are built into their hands. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the Doctor has been denied the use of his trusty TARDIS, forcing him to deal with the enemy minus any sort of electronic assistance. First telecast January 17, 1970, "Spearhead From Space, Episode 3" was written by Robert Holmes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, (more)
- 1970
In the second episode of the four-part story "Spearhead From Space," the "new" Doctor (Jon Pertwee) joins U.N.I.T. members Brig. Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) and Dr. Liz Shaw (Caroline John) in investigating a strange meteor shower. The trio soon discovers that the meteorites are pods for the Nestene Consciousness -- and it isn't long before they are gathered up by a sinister plastics manufacturer named Channing, who uses the pods to create the Autons, deadly creatures with weapons for hands. First telecast January 10, 1970, "Spearhead From Space, Episode 2" was written by Robert Holmes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, (more)
