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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer poster

Movies that feel likePerfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.

If you loved Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, the closest films we have are Tony Takitani (2004), Border (2018) and Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013). All three share Perfume: The Story of a Murderer's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Crumb (1995).

7 of 12 streaming nowApple TV · Criterion Channel · Metrograph

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If Perfume: The Story of a Murderer hit the spot, these will too

Tony Takitani poster
Tony Takitani
2004 · dir. Jun Ichikawa
🍅 88%★ 7.2drama

The same preoccupation in both: obsession

The difference: Reviewed even better

A reclusive illustrator falls in love with a young woman who addictively shops for clothing.

Border poster
Border
2018 · dir. Ali Abbasi
🍅 97%★ 7fantasy · drama · crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: supernatural

The difference: Less obsessive, more its own thing

When a border guard with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers encounters the first person she cannot prove is guilty, she is forced to confront terrifying revelations about herself and humankind.

Nymphomaniac: Vol. I poster
Nymphomaniac: Vol. I
2013 · dir. Lars von Trier
🍅 77%★ 6.9drama

Both land stillness and obsession at once

A man named Seligman finds a fainted wounded woman in an alley and he brings her home. She tells him that her name is Joe and that she is nymphomaniac. Joe tells her life and sexual experiences with hundreds of men since she was a young teenager while Seligman tells about his hobbies, such as fly fishing, reading about Fibonacci numbers or listening to organ music.

Taxi Driver poster
Taxi Driver
1976 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 89%★ 8.2crime · dramaApple TV+

Both are built on the same subject: obsession

The difference: 30 years apart, and the 1970s show

Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.

Blue Velvet poster
Blue Velvet
1986 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 87%★ 7.7mystery · thriller · crime

Common ground: small town life

The difference: Played as mystery first

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Crumb poster
Crumb
1995 · dir. Terry Zwigoff
🍅 95%★ 8documentary

Both lean on stillness more than on crime

This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin', Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, ex-wife and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man's subconscious mind.

The Number 23 poster
The Number 23
2007 · dir. Joel Schumacher
🍅 7%★ 6.4thriller · mystery · crime

Gritty drama in both cases

Animal control officer Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him, as more and more similarities between himself and his literary alter ego seem to arise.

The Green Mile poster
The Green Mile
1999 · dir. Frank Darabont
🍅 78%★ 8.6fantasy · drama · crime

One thread runs through both: supernatural

A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.

The Master poster
The Master
2012 · dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
🍅 85%★ 7.1drama

Obsessive fantasy, and it commits to that

Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new "religion" he forms after World War II.

Heat poster
Heat
1995 · dir. Michael Mann
🍅 84%★ 8.3crime · drama · action

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.

Freedom Writers poster
Freedom Writers
2007 · dir. Richard LaGravenese
🍅 69%★ 7.6crime · drama

The same preoccupation in both: daughter

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

Finding Neverland poster
Finding Neverland
2004 · dir. Marc Forster
🍅 83%★ 7.6drama · fantasyRent or buy

Fantasy built on dream logic, twice over

During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boys—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan.

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The best-reviewed films that share Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’s defining feeling.