Perfect Sense

With films like Hallam Foe or Young Adam, Scottish filmmaker David Mackenzie has established himself as a celebrated representative of European independent cinema. The fact that his last film Toy Boy with Ashton Kutcher couldn't quite live up to the standard of its predecessors and therefore rather failed with audiences and critics can rightly be seen as an exceptional case. Because with Perfect Sense, the director has once again staged a real indie gem that mixes an apocalyptic story with a lot of emotion and romance into a sensual whole.

The drama starts from a premise as frightening as it is interesting: due to an epidemic for which scientists can find no explanation, people all over the world are losing their sense of smell. While researcher Susan (Eva Green) and her team desperately search for a solution to this phenomenon, ordinary people like Chef Michael (Ewan McGregor) try to cope with the new situation and find their way back to normalcy. When, in a second wave, the sense of taste also disappears, the world is threatened with chaos. But even now, humanity manages to adapt. But the fear is there. What if the other senses are lost as well? In the midst of this apocalyptic atmosphere, Susan and Michael find each other and begin a passionate affair. What at first seems like adversity driving the two to each other soon grows into great love. But when the next wave robs people of their speech, the fall of civilization seems unstoppable.

Perfect Sense manages, with the simplest of means, to build an ominous atmosphere out of which the love between Susan and Michael seems to grow like a bright glimmer of hope. Mackenzie has directed the scenes between the lovers full of sensuality. Every touch, every kiss seems all the more intense as more senses are lost. Despite the rather frank depiction of nudity in these scenes, the view of the couple's lovemaking never feels voyeuristic. Rather, through these moments, the viewer feels the couple's lust for life and love increase proportionately to the loss of their senses. And that leads to one of the most moving and, in all desperation, beautiful film endings in a long time.

Even though Mackenzie tests the audience's patience here and there with badly blurred images, especially at the beginning, his production can only be described as extremely successful on balance. Because at some point not only the dialogues but also the sound fall away. Like the film's protagonists, the viewer then barely hears anything. While the silence is stifling, it also intensifies the tremendous power of the film. Where other directors would have chosen to punctuate the action with overly campy music, Mackenzie relies on subtle tones and extended moments of total silence. He literally forces the viewer to become aware of their own sensory perceptions, making Perfect Sense a particularly intense cinematic experience.

The gripping story is carried by two great leading actors. Ewan McGregor and Eva Green are not only beautiful to watch as a couple, especially since sparks really seem to fly between them. They both also deliver intense performances that absolutely do justice to the strong production. It may be that Perfect Sense won't appeal to a wide audience due to its dark undertone and arthouse character. But if you can get involved with intense cinema with ambition, emotion and great actors, you will be rewarded with a truly great film. The only thing to do is to go to the cinema and enjoy it with all your senses. Absolutely worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp