Perfume and Toys
Perfume and Toys

Movie spotlight

Perfume and Toys

1979
Movie
90 min
Italian

A married woman with a young daughter runs away from home to live out her dream of becoming a photo model. She becomes involved with a wealthy Italian entrepreneur while she's at it but has second thoughts once her daughter becomes ill.

Insights

IMDb5.7/10
Director: Alain Robbe-GrilletGenres: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Plot Summary

A young woman is hired to work in a mysterious toy factory where the owner is obsessed with creating lifelike dolls. As she delves deeper into the factory's secrets, she uncovers a dark and disturbing reality involving manipulation and artificial existence. The lines between reality and illusion begin to blur as she questions her own sanity and the true nature of her work.

Critical Reception

Alain Robbe-Grillet's 'Perfume and Toys' is a highly experimental and abstract film that polarized critics upon its release. It is often seen as a late-career work that pushes the boundaries of narrative and visual storytelling, characteristic of the director's avant-garde style. While some lauded its intellectual depth and unique atmosphere, others found it deliberately obtuse and inaccessible.

What Reviewers Say

  • Praised for its challenging, dreamlike atmosphere and exploration of artificiality.

  • Criticized for its narrative obscurity and deliberate obfuscation.

  • Seen as a typical example of Robbe-Grillet's post-Nouveau Roman cinematic experiments.

Google audience: Information not available.

Fun Fact

Alain Robbe-Grillet, a prominent figure in the Nouveau Roman literary movement, often incorporated themes of perception, memory, and subjective reality into his films, including 'Perfume and Toys'.

AI-generated overview · Verify ratings on official sources

My Review