Perfume

A divorced father, Guillaume Favre, fights to obtain shared custody of his daughter. He keeps his job as a chauffeur to afford a better home with room for his child. The quest for stability drives his choices throughout the story.

Guillaume is assigned to Anne Walberg, a gifted but arrogant perfumer. She asks him to be her sole driver as she takes on a string of scent-related assignments across France. This marks the start of their volatile professional relationship.

One of their early jobs sends them to a replica of a Paleolithic cave site in southern France to capture and study scents. The pair works to understand how smells define experiences and brands. The assignment showcases Anne's exceptional nose and Guillaume's practical sensibilities.

They are tasked with blending new scents to mask an objectionable odour delaying the launch of a luxury handbag range. Guillaume negotiates with Anne to double her fee if she can solve the problem within seven days. The pressure tests their teamwork and ethics.

In a restaurant during one trip, Anne identifies the five major components of the waitress's perfume (J'Adore) as she passes. She reveals that she 'invented' that scent, underscoring her extraordinary talent and vanity. Guillaume begins to see both brilliance and fragility in her.

Anne attends her agent's party but leaves on bad terms and ends the relationship by firing her agent. She then spends a night in a bar and wakes up in the hotel with her sense of smell missing. The experience hints at a blind spot beneath her confident exterior.

Four years ago she designed three perfumes for a major US company but couldn't bluff through with no sense of smell. The third fragrance ruined her reputation and damaged her standing in the industry. This backstory explains why she fears losing her olfactory edge.

Guillaume helps Anne in Alsace, where a factory's noxious odours spark protests. On the return journey she loses her sense of smell, prompting Guillaume to speed to the hospital at 180 km/h. The risky drive saves her life but costs Guillaume driving privileges.

At the hospital, Professor Patrick Ballester, an olfactory expert, treats Anne with Guillaume's help in summoning him. The doctor supports her recovery and offers a path back to scent and work. Guillaume had already contacted the specialist beforehand.

Anne returns home to find Guillaume stuck in a dead-end job mowing a lawn at an airfield. She confronts him and expresses a desire to rejoin forces; Guillaume agrees to become her agent again as she seeks to re-enter the perfume industry with her restored sense of smell. This marks a renewed partnership.

Guillaume devises a scent-based solution for the factory's odour issue — the smell of freshly mown grass, a memory from his childhood. Anne agrees to apply the idea as they work behind the scenes.

Using his revived career, Guillaume returns to the custody tribunal and wins joint custody of his daughter, securing a better apartment for them. The victory marks a turning point in his personal life.

The film ends with Guillaume and Anne entering the Dior headquarters to pitch new perfumes. Their professional alliance is solid, and both face a hopeful future together.