Süskind's novel "Perfume" and its film adaptation (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject German Studies - Modern German Literature, grade: 1.3, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, language: English, abstract: In 1985, the novel "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind was published. Highly praised by the press, it was on bestseller lists (not only in Germany) for years. It was translated into 46 languages and sold over 15 million copies. Such a successful book was crying out to be made into a film. But actually Grenouille does not correspond at all to the typical cinema heros. Süskind resisted releasing his screenplay for a long time. Ridley Scott, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg and Bernd Eichinger showed interest in the film version. However, according to rumors, the author hoped that Stanley Kubrick would film his novel.

In 2001, Eichinger finally obtained the rights to "Perfume". It is said that they cost him 10 million euros. Due to the popularity of the novel, the film adaptation of the material was impatiently awaited. In the following I will compare the novel in some points with the film version and go into difficulties with the conversion of the book (representation of the smells, the protagonist etc.). Furthermore, I would like to deal with some film reviews, in order to be able to draw my own summary regarding the cinematic world of Grenouille from the gained knowledge at the end.