Imagine an apocalyptic scenario when one by one you lose your human senses. First, you lose your sense of smell, then your sense of taste...eventually losing all five of your senses. Just when you have fallen in love with someone.
The BBC film Perfect Sense is a disconcerting romance set in Glasgow in the midst of a worldwide epidemic of an unknown disease that eliminates the senses, each sensory loss is preceded by an extreme emotional outburst. It's a highly tragic time for a chef (Ewan McGregor) and an epidemiologist (Eva Green) to fall in love.
In Perfect Sense, directed by David Mackenzie (Young Adam), it's not really the love story that emotionally connects to the viewers, but the extraordinary and frightening concept of losing what mankind needs not only for survival but for pleasure, presented in a raw, creative and poetic style that actually heightens our emotions and senses. We watch a world in its momentary phase of madness and chaos as the symptom of losing one's sensory begins. Intense grief suddenly seeps in, followed by losing your entire sense of smell. Intense rage, followed by losing your sense of hearing, and so on. After each loss, we fear for the worst sensory loss.
The film is also some sort of a scientific speculation in itself, imagining how people would react to losing their senses and how they will adapt to this collective tragedy. It explores the human psyche of coping and adapting, carrying our emotions throughout the sequence of events, the sadness and horror inflicting us, and sometimes the humor of it. Yes, there were moments that are absurdly funny, but quickly replaced by perplexity.
The film's atmosphere is reminiscent of the dystopian film Never Let Me Go but much more emotional and engaging. Perfect Sense, with a clever, poetic, and inspired screenplay by Kim Fupz Aakeson, and a moving musical score, is more frightening than any other recent apocalyptic films I've seen. Its intimate, dramatic and poetic treatment will take you on a scary and melancholy journey, but the value and beauty of life--and love-- are still resonant and profoundly felt.
One of the best films I've seen this year.
4.5 out of 5 stars
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