“Perfumes” (M) ****

PERFUMERS, referred to as “noses” in the smelling business, have natural aptitude for scent, formalised by training that can take seven years or more to complete.

For his second feature film, French writer/director Grégory Magne has created a character whose career as a nose has reduced her to working with smelly industries to improve their public image. 

Today, Anne Walberg (Emmanuelle Devos) needs a chauffeur to drive her to a factory. And chauffeur Guillaume Favre (Gregory Montel) is desperate to get work for his diesel Mercedes limousine so that he can convince the court to give him reasonable access to his 10-year-old daughter Léa (Zélie Rixhon).

You might be forgiven for assuming that “Perfumes” is going to be a romantic potboiler. That would be half correct. There’s been no time for romance in Anne’s life. Favre has other priorities. The other half is an informed, complex but easily-assimilable, explanation of what noses do and the skills they need to have. 

Anne isn’t beautiful and her behaviour is often peremptory, intolerant, demanding, useful traits for a character in a difficult profession. Devos delivers them with a subtle skill that makes the relationship with Favre difficult yet optimistic. Another reason is the credibility with which the script delivers them. Those are the fundamental reasons for rating “Perfumes” as a four stars film. If you read “CityNews” film reviews regularly, you may have noticed the emphasis I put on credibility. I make no apology for that. 

At Dendy and Palace Electric