Perfume documentaries are so rare that watching even the most shoddily put-together example would probably provide some level of enjoyment, just through the sheer novelty of seeing the fragrance world depicted on screen. It’s a tough topic to tackle, and not just because of the difficulty of conveying smells. High-profile perfume subjects tend to be attached to big-name organisations, which in turn come with a legal team’s worth of requirements, conditions and intricately-attached strings. So it was with as realistic a set of expectations as I could muster that I settled down to Nose, Clement Beauvais’ profile of in-house Dior perfumer and Grasseois industry veteran, Francois Demachy.
Given that the film was made with Dior’s support, it was always going to glisten with a certain amount of travel-brochure superficiality. And sure enough, there are plenty of shots of gorgeous landscapes, vividly-coloured fruit and soft petals in wicker baskets. We even get treated to the sight of some Calabrian bergamot pickers playing and dancing to music, for no other apparent reason than to make us believe that this is what bergamot pickers do when they have a few moments to spare and feel utterly overwhelmed by the joys of bergamot picking. This was the sort of thing I was expecting, so I did my best to try to cut through it and find something of substance beyond the prettiness.
Sadly, I’m not sure my search was successful. To be sure, the film does possess a few strengths. These include the presence of writer and commentator Eddie Bulliqi, who pops up a few times to offer cogent insights into the significance of perfume creation and to draw some well-illustrated parallels with the world of music. There are also wonderful snippets of interviews with flower growers and distillers: the people who carry out the physical hard graft that enables us to wear all our treasured lotions. I could have listened to them for much longer.
But beyond these attributes, Beauvais seems incapable of piercing the opacity of the milieu he claims to expose. If anything, he actually furthers many of its myths. For instance, anyone watching this doc would be forgiven for thinking that perfumes are ‘all-natural’ substances. Whilst it’s important to acknowledge the efforts of those who, year after year, battle the elements to look after their crops of rose, jasmine and orange blossom, it’s scandalous that not one single second of screen-time is devoted to stating that modern perfumery wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for some very clever people doing very clever things in labs. A brief scene in which two perfumers are seen discussing the synthetic musk Galaxolide isn’t sufficient, not least because it provides zero context for the casual viewer.
Most damagingly, the figure of Demachy himself remains impenetrable. Someone with as much experience and expertise as he has should have been probed for more concrete insights into the nitty-gritty details of his creative process. Indeed, on this front, the film never delves deeper than a throwaway moment when Demachy claims he’s trying to balance an incense-elemi accord. Instead, he’s shown chatting to semi-interested models about his work (which, together with some other, dubious sequences, runs the risk of presenting him in a chauvinist light), or sticking his face into flowers or, predictably, wandering through more of those stunning landscapes.
Perfumery is a subject that never fails to produce raised eyebrows and gasps of fascination whenever I begin talking about it to the uninitiated. Had Nose adopted a different structure – for instance, by charting the creation of a single, specific perfume – it could have elicited no end of ‘Wow’ moments from viewers unaware of the intricacies of this complex industry. But instead, it plays things very, very safe indeed and ends up being unclear about its intentions, its target audience and its arguments.
Persolaise
[Nose is available now on various streaming platforms; I rented it on Apple TV.]
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Fully agree with your review. As I wrote on Letterboxd, it is basically a 70 minute Dior ad. At no point did it offer any worthwhile insights about perfume, especially for fragrance lovers who are already pretty familiar with the olfactive universe. A genuine disappointment.
Thanks, Bart. Yes, I was expecting a certain amount of ‘advertorial’ style content, but I was hoping it would also come with a bit more substance.
My dear Mr. P! What a magnificent written post. My precise feelings about the documentary, put into the best of words. I felt mixed emotions from the documentary, and could only justify it as bland. I even dozed off a few times, because it did not ignite any excitement rather than disappointment. I had some ideas about Demachy being different, but he was indeed portrayed as a “chauvinistic” personality; as someone who sought out perfumery because “it helped him with the girls”… how vain and disappointing. Perfumery is an art form, not a “panty dropper gift”. My praise for Demachy stemmed from the idea that he is perfectly technical, and wondered whether his creative work (or lack thereof) stemmed from this perfectionism. I was left so disappointed by discovering that most of his “inspired creations” are for the “sexual appeal” and “people” (more specifically, women), by whom he is intrigued and feels he needs to dress in perfume – and then sell it massively because it’s what everyone else will want. How disrespectful! I even feel angry as I write this, because I feel it fails to deliver what Perfumery is really about (which in my opinion, is Art). I’m sorry, but I feel very much upset about this documentary, and I feel robbed of my time, energy and expectations. In any case, I appreciate you rendering through words what I feel was my own sentiment in relation to this documentary. Kudos to you, Mr. P. Looking forward to your next livestream review on YouTube.
Sincerely,
– David S.
David, thank you so much for taking the time to read and write. It’s such a shame about the documentary, as you say.
What a shame indeed. I suspected as much when watching the trailer. What a wasted opportunity. The chauvinistic part I find concerning in 2021.
Thanks, Karina. Yes, it was rather disappointing.
[…] list: The Nose (Clement Beauvais’ woefully unsatisfying profile of Dior’s in-house perfumer; click on this link for the full review I posted over on the other blog) and The Capote Tapes (Ebs Burnough) which […]