{"id":41,"date":"2013-07-02T15:23:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T14:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/02\/a-perfume-that-becomes-a-film-star\/"},"modified":"2024-04-26T13:33:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:33:20","slug":"a-perfume-that-becomes-a-film-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/02\/a-perfume-that-becomes-a-film-star\/","title":{"rendered":"A perfume that becomes a film star"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post by Susan Feehan<\/a> and in introducing it I feel I should explain that, other than my friendship with perfumer John Stephen<\/a>, I have no connection with the project she’s talking about here: I just thought it was such a great idea it deserved some publicity and was sure to interest people who are interested in perfume. Over to Susan:<\/span>
\n
<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nFire breaks out at a
\nfamous London hotel. A bathrobed hero emerges from the flames carrying the
\nwoman who loves him. They kiss and find themselves on the world\u2019s front pages;
\ntheir moment of passion and courage inspires a new perfume. Then our hero goes
\nback to his wife\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

Time goes by\u2026everyone
\nforgets\u2026until a perfume campaign offers the couple a big fat fee and a return
\nto the spotlight. What could possibly go wrong?<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nIf
\nthat sounds like a pitch for a romantic comedy, you\u2019ve guessed right. I\u2019m the
\nwriter, and I can\u2019t resist pitching. You never know when a hedge fund manager
\nmight be reading\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSeriously,
\nevery film story needs a crucible in which characters are trapped until they
\nwork through their demons or face ruin. I always knew mine would be the world
\nof perfume, but for several drafts I didn\u2019t know why.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI
\nthought it was about glamour, fantasy and a serenely calm and fragrant public
\nworld at odds with the story\u2019s private arena of anger, old grievances,
\nbetrayal, insecurity and\u2026yes, it is still a romantic comedy.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nThen
\nI realised perfume had to be at the heart of the story because it is about the memories
\nthat surround one moment captured in a picture. Memories that differ for each
\ncharacter.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLinda<\/b>
\n\u2014 the leading lady who is rescued from the hotel fire and then dumped by her
\nmarried lover \u2014 can\u2019t remember the moment for what it was: an honest and true
\nmoment when two people forgot their emotional ties. All she sees is a man she
\nloved who was about to dump her. She only remembers the moment\u2019s future.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHarry<\/b>
\n\u2014 the fire hero \u2014 sees the moment and remembers how his courage collapsed into
\ncowardice because he wasn\u2019t sure he could be that man for the rest of his life.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSteve<\/b>
\n\u2014 the man who replaced Harry in Linda\u2019s heart \u2014 sees Harry\u2019s and Linda\u2019s big
\nmoment and fears he\u2019s not made of that kind of heroic stuff.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nRalph<\/b>
\n\u2014 the photographer who made Harry and Linda famous \u2014 remembers snapping two
\npeople who had cheated death, who had looked the devil in the eye and said:
\n\u2018Not today. We\u2019re in love, and you can\u2019t touch us.\u2019<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nPierre<\/b>
\n\u2014 the perfumer so inspired by the moment that he turns it into a fragrance \u2014 deludes
\nhimself that the moment can return exactly as it once was, if only he can
\nreunite the couple who were his muse.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThese
\nare a few of the people I spend my life with. Writers need to find themselves
\nin each of their characters and Pierre hits a major nerve with me. He\u2019s
\nridiculous in many ways, too precious to operate in the real world. He channels
\nperfume from a universe not known to mere mortals, coming to life only when
\ntalking about fragrance and protected from reality by his adoring wife
\nChristine.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nWell,
\nI regularly become pompous and authorial about writing generally and film stories
\nin particular. Then I can\u2019t be bothered about the nitty-gritty of real life. Pierre
\ncries when his creation is dragged through the dirt by the very people who
\ninspired him, and cries again when he feels his world is ending. Again, er\u2026me. And,
\nlike me, Pierre often wears sunglasses indoors \u2014 sometimes to hide the tear
\ntracts on his face. How can you not love him?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHe
\ndeserves a reward for being put through hell. He deserves more than a fictional
\nperfume. He deserves a real one. So we\u2019re going to make life imitate art. Why
\nshoot a film with a mocked-up perfume that\u2019s probably tea in a bottle when you
\ncan have a real fragrance, inspired by the same moment in the story?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBut
\nI\u2019m a writer, not a perfumer. So I\u2019ve found our real-life equivalent of Pierre
\n\u2014 John Stephen, of The Cotswold Perfumery<\/a> \u2014 who is creating a character I can
\nwrite, but can\u2019t cast. John can bring this character off the page and into real
\nlife. In time, we hope that you can not only see the film, but also buy the
\nperfume. If there are any hedge fund managers reading, that was another pitch
\nfor funding\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWe
\nwant romance, courage, fire, honesty and forgiveness, all in the one bottle. So
\nno pressure, John. Before he bolts for the exit, I should stress that no
\nreal-life perfumers will be harmed in the making of this film\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nYou
\ncan find us on Facebook at thekissmovie<\/a>, on the web at thekissmovie.uk.com<\/a> and
\nfundraising on indiegogo (at <\/span>http:\/\/bit.ly\/12Ztina<\/span> until 5 August) with
\nperfume perks as our thanks for support.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>                      Susan Feehan<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post by Susan Feehan and in introducing it I feel I should explain that, other than my friendship with perfumer John Stephen, I have no connection with the project she’s talking about here: I just thought it was such a great idea it deserved some publicity and was sure to interest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37,36,7],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210,"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pellwallhelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}