‘Perfume’: The Human Scent Murder Mystery Gets Netflix German TV Treatment
According to Indie Wire, a new television series is heading to Netflix. Perfume is slated for a six episode season. The show will follow several friends who are so obsessed with the possibilities of smells, that when one of them dies, skeletons from their past are stirred up.
Perfume is based on the 1985 Patrick Süskind novel by the same name. The novel was previously adapted into the 2006 film, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, which starred Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman, and Dustin Hoffman. This newest version of the novel hopes to keep with the original story, and bring it to a more modern context rather than keeping with the 18th-century French vibes of the novel.
This update means that Perfume will have a detective show-like twist, as a group of investigators delve into the death of a deceased singer. These investigators will find that the group of friends mentioned above have stumbled into the practice of using human scents in the crafted fragrance. The investigation leads down the rabbit hole of an obsessive murderer, cites Indie Wire.
The series will be directed by Philipp Kadelbach. Kadelbach was previously behind the 2013 drama, Generation War. Others involved in the series are: August Diehl, Ken Duken, Friederike Becht, Susanne Wuest, Marc Hosemann, Natalia Belitski, Trystan Pütter, and Wotan Wilke Möhring.
Netflix dramas from Germany have been described as bleak. Some of the other series which Perfume will be joining include hits such as Dark, Babylon Berlin, and the upcoming show Dogs of Berlin. Dogs of Berlin is also set to premiere next month alongside Perfume. Incidentally, the first 2006 adaptation of Perfume was directed by Tom Tykwer, who also directed Dark and Baby Berlin.
IMDB lists the production company as Constantin Film. Oliver Berben, a Constantin executive, has given a statement following the groundbreaking deal with streaming video giant, Netflix, announced the Hollywood Reporter.
“We see a lot of potential to grow our non-theatrical business.”
Constantin hopes that this pioneering deal with streaming giant Netflix, which was only unveiled just last week, marks a new direction for the company. The idea is that this partnership will leverage Constantin’s position as one of Europe’s leading production companies, and will thus allow for bringing about the deep library of brands and literary titles. As cited by the Hollywood Reporter, Constantin is looking to continue to carve out a position as a top indie company in the television drama space.
