I *love* Perfume (the book). Whenever I have a friend that's trying to get in to reading, I always lend this book. Watching the movie, I was waiting with baited breath for how they would film the orgy scene... and it was pretty weird and awkward. The book is definitely better. Kudos for the effort in making people read it!

I hadn't read the book and only recently saw the film. Weird, awkward, yes, but well worth watching.

A friend whose book is being adapted for the screen was given very good advice -- a book and a movie are different creatures, she was told. Try not to compare the two. That said, I tend to avoid movies made of books I love. Why risk having my own images erased? But to stop reviewing books? Sheesh -- might as well say, let's stop discussing them!

I read it when it came out in German & then reread it & sold tons when it was translated. Waited over a decade for it to come out as a film. Enjoyed it but wish that Peter Greenaway was involved...

Be glad the film turned out as good as it did, Bethanne-standard Hollywood practice is to either cut the author out of the screenplay process entirely or to bring a menagerie of talent-free camp followers to "fix" it till it's no longer seaworthy. I'm surprised that they get ever get it right...

Christine, that's it! We needed Peter Greenaway... Kevin, you're right -- the movie was better than it might have been. At least it held some of the spirit of the book. And it was honest about the grubbiness of 18th-century Europe... Adriann, I love that you give this book to friends who are trying to get into reading. It's so lush. One of the things I did like about the movie was the shots of lavender fields in Grasse. David, totally agree that movie is worth watching, weirdness and all. Clea, I for one will never stop discussing OR reviewing books. Glad you won't, either!

Strange, I watched the movie this weekend as well. Felt that it was too close to the book and lost a sense of something different. But loved the orgy scene. Was this filmed in Europe? I don't think americans ever would have done that scene.

I too read the book many years ago and thought it superb. I only rented the movie recently, and while nowhere near as good as the book, generally pretty good. OK, there are a couple of scenes we could've done without, but overall I was not terribly disappointed. I thought both Ben Winshawe and Dustin Hoffman were excellent. And as Stephen King has said "The books are still on the shelf."

I've always thought that Jodie Foster could do the Mallory novels. Although she may be getting too old.

I agreed with your friend R.'s analysis in a paper for senior seminar. Needless to say, my grade on that paper caused me to reconsider the validity of that argument in a purely academic context. As per film adaptations, I've tended toward thinking of them like poetry translations - the translation becomes a work of its own with characteristics of both the original and the translator, regardless of how "true to the original" the translator tries to be.