The scent of ‘Perfume’ isn’t sweet

I had lots of problems when I tried to read Patrick Susskind ’s 1985 novel “Perfume:The Story of a Murderer.” I never could understand what the German writer was trying to do.

Or maybe I just don’t care about novels that use murder to explore the nature of obsession – novels, at least, that lack the prose beauty of a Vladimir Nabokov .

But I figured that if anyone could help me understand what Susskind was trying to do, it might be Tom Tykwer , the director of “Run Lola Run,” “The Princess and the Warrior” and “Heaven.” I was wrong.

Tykwer’s adaptation, which came out on DVD Tuesday, is as beautiful to look at as, say, Nabokov is to read. Filmed in Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands, the film boasts cinematography as richly rendered as a Caravaggio painting .

But even three screenwriters – Tykwer along with Andrew Birkin and Bernd Eichinger – aren’t able to make any more of an understandable movie than Susskind did a lucid novel.

The story centers on a creature named Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) who has a unique talent: His sense of smell is as developed as most people’s sense of taste. And it’s every bit as sexual.

But Grenouille, whose life almost ends before it begins, is as stunted in his development as his obsessions are demented. In his quest to capture the perfect scent, he ends up murdering a string of young women (13 in the movie, 25 in the novel). And he succeeds.

But instead of paying for his crimes, he ends up charming the world – if only temporarily – all because of the perfect scent that he’s invented.

Or something like that. I can’t be sure.

Let’s just say that the movie ends with a bit of cannibalism … as if we haven’t already had enough sick crap to cope with.