Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Based on Patrick Süskind’s bestselling novel, Tom Tykwer and producer Bernd Eichinger tackled what was supposedly an unfilmable story and created a huge international blockbuster. Unfortunately, American audiences didn’t seem to respond as enthusiastically to the film’s unconventional charms. Working on this score took Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, and me on a two-year adventure. On the way, we recorded with the Absolute Ensemble in New York, the State Choir Latvia in Riga, and the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in Germany. This is not your average film score. We tried to convey smell through music and failed, but did so elegantly.