Word arrived this past week from Icarus Films that they will be teaming up with France’s premiere film production and distribution company, Distrib Films, for the domestic DVD debut of writer/director Grégory Magne’s delightful “romantic” comedy (with a bit of an edge), Perfumes, on Aug. 10.
French film star Emmanuelle Devos, who has been nominated six-times for César Awards, France’s equivalent to our Oscars (winning Best Actress laurels in 2001 for Read My Lips and winning again in 2009 for Best Supporting Actress in Xavier Giannoli’s In the Beginning), plays Anne Walberg, a perfectionist.
Indeed, Anne Walberg is the Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep’s obsessive, abusive fashion-publishing queen) of the perfume world. Now in her fifties, her beauty has begun to fade, she’s alone, bitter and combative, her “nose;” her sense of smell, made her one of the top perfume designers, but these days she serves the needs of “special” clients.
Into this self-contained world comes her latest chauffeur, Guillaume Favre (played by Montel — actor-turned-filmmaker in his directing debut), who needs to hang on to this job, even though he is ill-suited for the likes of Mademoiselle Walberg. Through a bit of a backstory we learn that he is divorced and in the middle of a custody battle with his ex-wife over their daughter, Léa (Zelie Rixhon) and the judge hearing the case has made it clear to Guillaume that being a good father means having a good job.
Perfumes plays out like an odd-couple story, with the likeable Guillaume just being himself and doing the unthinkable, questioning the seemingly crazy requests that his employer demands of him. By all odds he shouldn’t last the day, but it is his “feedback” that she needs … simply put, she needs another human being to talk to.
As the film unfolds, these two become miss-matched friends — the Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison of the world of perfume. Fun and, at times, touching.
Perfumes is presented in French with English subtitles.
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