Fragrance references in fiction books or films

[Arij]

Carine Roitfeld admits in her documentary Mademoiselle C to wearing Opium layered with Fleur d'oranger (unspecified).

 

[jarroditshallbe]

Sherlock series 3 " His Last Vow" Claire de la Lune. Has a cool bottle, but is sadly fake.

 

[Jardanel]

Re: Lust, Caution by Ang Lee
Great movie, rather overshadowed by the stunning success of "Brokeback Mountain" the year previous to its release. It's about political espionage in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Male lead is Tony Leung, who we get to see every inch (and I mean every.inch) of in the bedroom scenes.

Anyway, perfume! Fairly early on in the movie, a young woman sits in a Western-style cafe. She's been chosen by the radical cadre from her college to infiltrate the opposition by seducing its leader. She pulls out a perfume bottle from her purse. It looked like a half ounce extrait bottle to me. She removes the stopper and applies the fragrance to her neck. I've never been able to identify the perfume, but it did its visual duty in anchoring the scene as one of anticipation and desire. Lust and caution, indeed.

 

[Marais]

In 'Lord of the Rings', Ugluk, captain of the band of Uruk-Hai orcs which captured Merry & Pippin, is seen to be carrying a bottle of Aramis in his leatherette washbag.

 

[Foustie]

In 'Lord of the Rings', Ugluk, captain of the band of Uruk-Hai orcs which captured Merry & Pippin, is seen to be carrying a bottle of Aramis in his leatherette washbag.

:laugh:

I've posted this so often, and I posted it in the Friday synch today. Sorry if I'm boring you...

In the film Hannibal, Clarice catches Hannibal the cannibal because of fragrance!!

Hannibal sends Clarice a letter. Clarice realises that the letter is fragranced. They gather a panel of noses who analyse it and track the fragrance to only a few places in the world. It's a really terrific scene for any fragrance lover. They identify "Kentucky Lavender" and ambergris. The clue takes us to Florence where Hannibal is seen on camera in the Santa Maria Novella shop in Via della Scala. Also in the film, the Police Inspectors beautiful wife, Allegra Pazzi has Santa Maria Novella fragrance on her dresser.

BTW the Friday synch today is about fragrances associated with TV programmes and Film. There are some great posts. Fell free to pop over. It's on the female forum. :smiley:

 

[du57in]

:laugh:

I've posted this so often, and I posted it in the Friday synch today. Sorry if I'm boring you...

In the film Hannibal, Clarice catches Hannibal the cannibal because of fragrance!!

Hannibal sends Clarice a letter. Clarice realises that the letter is fragranced. They gather a panel of noses who analyse it and track the fragrance to only a few places in the world. It's a really terrific scene for any fragrance lover. They identify "Kentucky Lavender" and ambergris. The clue takes us to Florence where Hannibal is seen on camera in the Santa Maria Novella shop in Via della Scala. Also in the film, the Police Inspectors beautiful wife, Allegra Pazzi has Santa Maria Novella fragrance on her dresser.

BTW the Friday synch today is about fragrances associated with TV programmes and Film. There are some great posts. Fell free to pop over. It's on the female forum. :smiley:

I have pretty thoroughly researched this and have come to the conclusion that if you want to smell like Hannibal Lecter, Creed's Bois du Portugal is probably as close as you can get. It's the only fragrance I could find that features ambergris and lavender that would have been out and available in Europe when he sent his letter.

 

[ColdSteel]

In the Stephen King short story "Umney's Last Case," one of the main characters--specifically the author who switches places with Umney--wears Aramis.

 

[Foustie]

I have pretty thoroughly researched this and have come to the conclusion that if you want to smell like Hannibal Lecter, Creed's Bois du Portugal is probably as close as you can get. It's the only fragrance I could find that features ambergris and lavender that would have been out and available in Europe when he sent his letter.

Very clever! I think that the letter is actually fragranced with scented hand creme. The panel of noses decide that it is a bespoke fragrance and that there is Ambergris in it and that you would only get real ambergris in a few places in the world, one being the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica Santa Maria Novella in Florence. This was really exciting for me because I have been there! They watch the shop's CCTV camera's and voila !! There is Hannibal sniffing fragrance from a mouillette. There is much artistic license, I'm sure, but it is a great plot twist for us, and you get to see Ridley Scotts beautiful hommage to Florence. Watch it!!

 

[Ken_Russell]

A brief scene in the French film "La Fille du RER" aka "The girl in the train" (2009) directed by Andre Techine includes the "cameo" of a rather oversized bottle of Chanel pour Monsieur, displayed rather in the background (thus almost impossible to establish whether it is the regular or the concentrated version).

 

[DuNezDeBuzier]

Big Bang Theory - Season 1 Episode 3, The Fuzzy Boots Corollary, around 13 minutes in...

Leonard:

“How do I look?”​

Sheldon:

“Could you be more specific?”​

Leonard:

“Can you tell I’m perspiring a little?”​

Sheldon:

“Naw, the dark crescent shape patterns under your arms conceal it nicely.”​

“What time is your date?”​

Leonard:

“6:30”​

Sheldon:

“Perfect, that gives you 2 hours and 15 minutes for that dense molecular cloud of Aramis to dissipate.”​

Leonard:

"Is it too much?"​

Sheldon:

"Not if you’re a rugby team."​

 

[ColdSteel]

Another Stephen King reference:
In It, while flying on the Concorde from England to Maine, Bill Denbrough notices the man next to him is wearing Ted Lapidus cologne, but that the smell of sweat is still noticeable.

 

[勝美!]

 

[勝美!]

 

[勝美!]

 

[Ken_Russell]

Watching "The Simpsons", just noticed that grandpa Abe Simpson was wearing Old Spice, humorously referred to as "Old Old Spice" (but the iconic bottle was still depicted quite accurately).

 

[kingderella]

Bringing the nerdery: In the X-Men mini series "Phoenix: Endsong", Emma Frost sais that she preferes Dior over Chanel.

 

[iodine]

I'm re-reading Bulgakov Master and Margarita: during Woland show at the theatre women in the audience are given clothes, shoes, bags and "Guerlain, Chanel, Mitsouko, Narcisse Noir, Chanel n° 5" bottles

 

[juanderer]

I caught a fragrance reference in Orange is the New Black the other day.....Piper says to Nikki after a discussion about their Mothers "you don't know what my sh*t" smells like"...sh*t being a reference to family drama.......to which Nikki leans in, sniffs her, and replies "you sh*t smells like Shalimar....must have rubbed off when she hugged ya". My Husband was like "isn't that the one in the fancy bottle that you love so much"

Another reference on Orange is the New Black happens in a flashback scene for one of the inmates, Rosa. She has just robbed a bank with three males, one of which is her boyfriend. I believe it is him that waves a wad of cash in front of her and urges her to smell it and comments that it smells "better than Drakkar Noir."

 

[Primrose]

View attachment 29141

They don't mention it, but they do show Mrs Crawley receiving some Guerlain perfume for Christmas in Season 2, episode 10 of Downton Abbey.

Yes, that's MItsouko parfum, alright!

There was also a scene where Lady Mary spills a bottle of perfume, and in dismay says something like her room will "smell like a tart."

 

[Stacie1980]

Another reference on Orange is the New Black happens in a flashback scene for one of the inmates, Rosa. She has just robbed a bank with three males, one of which is her boyfriend. I believe it is him that waves a wad of cash in front of her and urges her to smell it and comments that it smells "better than Drakkar Noir."

I did not catch that! Loved Miss Rosa in Season 2!

 

[Ken_Russell]

Since the 1939 version of GWTW was mentioned, while watching this film always tried to push the still button to notice which Eau de Cologne Scarlett uses to rinse her mouth after too much drinking. Noticed a French name, along the lines of "Chateautard cologne" or so.
Now, even if this question is largely rhetorical and I am quite certain it was just a fantasy name invented by the film makers (since the EDC brand never gets mentioned in the book), did a fragrance house named like this or similarly ever exist in the 19th century?

As a completely unrelated bit of fragrance trivia, even if perhaps mentioned before: in another iconic novel set in the 19th century, "Bel Ami" (whose title incidentally inspired a fragrance name) a this time 100% real fragrance house DOES get mentioned, namely Lubin (apparently mentioned more than once in the works of Maupasant).

 

[Nymphaea]

Yes, that's MItsouko parfum, alright!

There was also a scene where Lady Mary spills a bottle of perfume, and in dismay says something like her room will "smell like a tart."

What is the difference between the boxes of vintage L'heure Bleue and Mitsouko, if any?

 

[Franco65]

during "Sex and the City" several Creed bottles appear in Sarah J Parker flat! Can't say which ones...

 

[勝美!]

 

[hednic]

I just recently saw that film with my wife. Wonder what they were in those fancy bottles.

 

[Ken_Russell]

Just watching "Two and a half men" (season 11, episode 17), just realized that the character Alan Harper uses Paco Rabanne (presumably Paco Rabanne PH), as he himself mentions this. Would have expected Charlie Harper or even the surprisingly modest, understated and mild-mannered billionaire Walden Schmidt to wear Paco Rabanne PH, but Alan? This show has not ceased to surprise me yet, right down to the fragrance preferences of the characters.

 

[NazguL2]

In American Gods, a book of Neil Gaiman the prison warden wears "Old spice"

Up close, Patterson looked worse. His face was oblong, with gray hair cut into a military bristle cut. He smelled of Old Spice. Behind him was a shelf of books, each with the word Prison in the title; his desk was perfectly clean, empty but for a telephone and a tear-off-the-pages Far Side calendar. He had a hearing aid in his right ear.

 

[Nymphaea]

Came upon this while watching old reruns.
In a 2nd Season of Big Bang Theory, episode (21) entitled The Vegas Renormalization, Howard Wolowitz explains to Leonard and Raj who are getting ready to go down to the casino of a Vegas hotel, about his large travel case filled with colognes:
"...1st row are your musks, 2nd row: woods, leathers and botanicals, 3rd row is assorted pheromones...tread lightly."

 

[勝美!]

 

[miracleborgtech]

There is a Showtime series named PENNY DREADFUL set in the 19th century. One of the main characters, Dorian Gray (yes the never aging beautiful man assisted by his portrait) has an amazing house with a huge avant garde bathroom/dressing room. On the mirrored walls are shelves filled with huge gorgeous bottles of perfume. There are scenes where he carefully selects the right fragrance for his night out. He makes a point of saying that he loves the best and collects only the most exquisite fragrances. The bottles are ornate, and he obviously takes his perfume habit seriously!

 

[darcy666]

A British author by the name of Peter James has a great series of books about the detective Roy Grace. Roy's best mate is another detective called Glen branson, and in last year's book before going out Glen 'sprayed on some of his new favourite cologne, Bleu de Chanel'

Another British author by the name of Luke Delaney wrote a crime book called 'The Keeper'. In teh book the protagonist kidnapped women and dressed them in his choice of clothes and applied perfume before killing them. When the police analysed the perfume it was found to be Tom Ford's Black orchid.

Not quite book or film, but on an episode of league of thier own recently they had Mo Farah and Edgar Davids as guests. When asked what aftershave they were rocking Mo said One Million. Edgar Davids said Creed, but didn't say which one.

 

[lpp]

Which appear to have been confiscated due to some dubious dealing
http://www.thegloriousrevolution.org/docs/danieldefoe.htm

 

[samsmells]

Investigative journalist Scout from Mad Men Bad Girls wears Mitsouko whenever she needs to go out and investigate

 

[勝美!]

 

[勝美!]

 

[勝美!]

 

[Ken_Russell]

A rather off-topic post, regarding fragrance references in two non-fictional broadcasts on two separate TV channels, dedicated mainly to historical and/or travel-related documentaries:

- one broadcast on Travel Channel was covering famous tourist attractions of London and included a short broadcast from the Penhaligons flagship store (while the name Penhaligons was never mentioned, it was quite easy to guess due to the shape of the traditional bottles and labels, as well as the testing of a "gin fizz" fragrance, most likely Juniper Sling)

- another broadcast was the even more famous series of documentaries "Continental Railway Travels" on the History Channel, hosted by former British MP Michael Portillo, one of his extensive travels heading towards the Farina Gegenüber headquarters in Köln and including several testings of the very same EDC based on the historical formula from 1709.

Was gladly surprised to watch both programs, since it shows that media is staring to pay attention to the historical, cultural, social etc. significance of iconic fragrances.

 

[Marais]

Watching a re-run of classic British drama 'Oh No, it's Selwyn Froggitt', saw a bottle of Blue Stratos on Selwyn's dressing table. Magic!

 

[Arij]

Awesome contribution to this thread 勝美! !!!

 

[Marais]

Watching a re-run of classic British drama 'On the Buses', spotted a bottle of Brut on Stan's dresser. 'Get that bus out!'