Perfect Sense – Film Review

Senses and sensibility

Release date: 7 October 2011
15 * 92 minutes
Director: David Mackenzie
Distributor: Arrow Film
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Connie Nielsen, Ewen Bremner, James Watson, Caroline Paterson

What first comes in to your mind when you see the word “apocalypse”? Nuclear war? A Galactus-style interstellar threat? In Perfect Sense, the very notion of the end of the world is turned on its head, as the entire human race contracts a disease that gradually robs them of their senses, one at a time.

In the middle of this global epidemic, chef and perennial womaniser Michael (Ewan McGregor) meets scientist Susan (Eva Green), and the two of them begin to fall in love as the world around them crumbles. The disease nibbling away at humanity starts slowly: the afflicted first feel an overwhelming sense of grief, and then, suddenly, can’t smell anything. The international community is dumbfounded, but in true Blitz spirit, people adjust and life goes on.

It’s only when the next stage of the disease kicks in and people begin losing their sense of taste that the sense of foreboding really ratchets up. The loss of taste is preceded by a ravenous hunger (you’ll remember the woman eating her lipstick well after the credits roll), and tensions rise as folks begin to understand where this road is leading them.

McGregor and Green are a believably flawed pair, one a serial shagger, the other a reluctant partner, whose relationship becomes all the more urgent and intense as society struggles to cope. It’s a superb premise, and Kim Fupz Aakeson’s script is full of incidental detail and revealing insight, tugging at the heartstrings while examining the nature of humanity in the face of impending disaster.

The modern setting, subtle use of news footage and ominous voiceover lend proceedings gravitas, and each phase of the disease is flavoured by distinctive sequences and tricks. The largely silent final third is particularly effective, as is the street artist who tries to remind people what it felt like to smell freshly cut grass on a spring morning. Far from the usual grandstanding apocalyptic spectacular, David McKenzie has instead delivered a touching, emotionally resonant and beautifully executed spin on humanity’s final moments that will hit you in the head and heart – and ensure you never take the taste of bacon for granted again.

Rob Power