By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Decay's Perfume: sniffing death with Patrick Suskind
As Tom Tykwer‘s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is about to be released outside of Germany, in Guardian Books, novelist Patrick Süskind considers death lit as sex lit from the perspective of writers like Goethe and Kleist, as well as Wilde and Mann. 
“We understand both attitudes: the one seeking death as the only possible liberation from the unbearable pain of love, and the other, as it were chivalrous attitude, accepting death as a necessary risk taken in pursuit of the erotic quarry, particularly at times and in societies where swords and pistols were swiftly drawn. Neither can be described as exemplary and worthy of imitation, both may be regarded as a deplorable aberration of the erotic drive, to be ascribed to its frenzied and indeed pathological nature, but we can understand such things, that is to say, we can put ourselves in the place of human beings who kill themselves or die for love. If it were not so, how could we read “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” “Anna Karenina,” “Madame Bovary” or “Effi Briest” unmoved? Yet the point where empathy and understanding end and interest wanes, giving way to outright repugnance, is reached when Eros throws himself violently into the arms of Thanatos as if to merge with him, when love seeks to find its highest and purest form, indeed its fulfilment, in death.” In Spiegel, Urs Jenny has a long take-out on the movie’s making, including this sum-up: “A special edition of the novel is being published in time to coincide with the film’s release, along with an audio book version, two books about the film itself and, finally, a CD of the film’s bombastic score, performed by none less than the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. But the real piece de resistance has to be an item that couldn’t possibly be interpreted as anything but a parody of the usual marketing paraphernalia. It’s an exclusive “Thierry Mugler toiletry bag of the finest red velour,” which contains 15 delicate little bottles of an “olfactory interpretation of the film.” Unfortunately, the item isn’t available at movie theaters, but only in “authorized perfumeries.” The filming of the book, apparently, has led to its theme being used to market perfume.” [Official site here.]
