19/12/2006

2006 will certainly be remembered, among other things, by the unprecedented success of numerous German titles, within elitist festival circuits, in terms of awards won and at the box office of a number of European countries. Spain is no exception, with Tom Tykwer's latest film, Perfume: Story of a Murderer [+see also:
trailer
film profile], currently exceeding €1m admissions (and €5.3m grossed locally).

According to Madrid-based company Filmax – which co-produced the film and handled its local theatrical distribution – Tykwer's adaptation of Patrick Süskind's best-selling novel grossed over €1.5m in its opening weekend, to become the second most seen title after Casino Royale [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Besides the appealing story and a cast combining established stars Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman with emerging talents such as Ben Whishaw and Rachel Hurd-Wood, part of the interest Perfume is stirring up in Spain may be due to the fact that some of film's sequences have been shot locally – with the gothic neighbourhood of Barcelona serving as 18th century Paris – as a result of the collaboration of the Barcelona Film Commission.

Other German titles distributed in Spain include Hans-Christian Schmid's Requiem [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hans-Christian Schmid
interview: Hans-Christian Schmid
interview: Sandra Hueller
film profile] (see Focus), released last Friday, and EFA winner The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile] by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (see focus), to open in the first trimester of 2007.