Susan is a scientist who knows she shouldn’t smoke but does. Michael is a chef who cleans the fish smell from his hands with lemon and isn’t afraid to bum a smoke once in a while. The two meet, and begin to fall in love as if they’re two characters in a movie compelled to do so (which, come to think of it, they are). The catch: a new epidemic is sweeping through hospitals. After a sudden temper tantrum, often prompted by a wall of grief and loss, the victim loses one of their senses. The first wave loses their sense of smell.
So this is the world in which Susan (Eva Green) and Michael (Ewan McGregor) are struggling to find love. With every new sense lost, countries are increasingly chaotic and governments are just barely holding on. People aren’t really eating in restaurants anymore, so Michael’s work dries up (how do you cook without smell? how do you enjoy eating?) just as Susan’s is put to the test: she’s at the forefront of research into this epidemic, and her voice-overs provide some insight. Don’t worry, though, you don’t need smell to repent. It’s never too late for that.
You can tell from the turtlenecks this is NOT The Perfect Fashion Sense.
Anyway, an epidemic is not an obvious setting for a love story, and I’ve possibly never been so fully turned off than watching an orgy of gluttony that was remarkably non-discerning. Perfect Sense is no Love in the Time of Cholera. It doesn’t succeed in being any big character study, or any great romance, but it doesn’t quite reach for the bigger picture either, though the pieces are all there. On balance I’d say this is still worth a watch – there are a couple of astonishing scenes, and for me at least it forced a few of those powerful What If questions without which life would be less sweet.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
I have to admit that I like the plot of this film. Epidemics are nothing new of course, but the way you describe this one is something that I haven’t seen/heard of before. Thanks for the review, I will probably check this one out at some point 😊
LikeLike
Sounds like this would have been a better book than movie.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was reading this and thinking about the movie Blindness. Kinda sounds similar, though Blindness was likely a bit more ambitious?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I literally don’t plan on watching most of these movies yet I follow because I love your comments on it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is a shame because that is the point of writing a review,to encourage you to see something different and maybe come back and offer your own insight.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is an interesting premise. Too bad the movie didn’t live up to it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“I’d say this is still worth a watch – there are a couple of astonishing scenes, and for me at least it forced a few of those powerful What If questions without which life would be less sweet.” Agreed. Dare I admit that I’ve watched this movie three times, hoping to enjoy it more each time; alas, to no avail? That said, I’ll likely watch it again eventually for the simple fact that I’d watch these two (Green and McGregor) reading grocery lists on Youtube.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Haha, yes, sometimes we can’t explain what draws us to a so-so movie, and sometimes we can! But even imperfect movies can have redeeming bits. Glad you found some too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh why don’t they give good actors good movies? But I’ll watch it for the astonishing bits.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have this in my IFC Films collection and while I liked it fine,it just left me wondering how Eva Green is considered a leading actress in the classical sense. She is striking but when your male co-star is prettier then the leading lady……
I thought “Perfect Sense” was rather well done based on its budget and is a perfect commentary on today’s world.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Eva is the epitome of “je ne sais quoi.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed…I mean I loved Eva in “The Golden Compass” and she is a good actress,I just don’t get her appeal as a leading lady…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting premise. I’ve lost my sense of taste a couple of times during a really bad cold–one of the worst things in the world. I don’t know how people who suffer from it constantly stand it. There are a lot of ‘plague’ movies out there though–I’m still waiting for someone to make a film version of Station Eleven.
LikeLiked by 2 people
If it has Eva Green in it, I have to see it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you. And, agreed.
LikeLike
This movie had a lot of room for improvement but I still managed to enjoy it. Me being a major soundtrack junkie, the scoring by Max Richter helped a lot in that regard.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Actually I found their turtlenecks quite fetching. 🙂
LikeLike