Perfume: Review, Story, Cast, Episodes, Release Date, Budget & More

Perfume

Perfume is a haunting German thriller series that premiered on Netflix in December 2018, offering six episodes of psychological darkness inspired by Patrick Süskind’s acclaimed novel. Created by Eva Kranemann, this modern adaptation transplants the obsessive themes of scent, desire, and murder from 18th-century France to contemporary Germany. The series stars Friederike Becht, Wotan Wilke Möhring, and August Diehl in a story that explores how past traumas and toxic friendships can resurface with deadly consequences. Set primarily in present-day Germany with flashbacks to the 1990s, Perfume examines a group of boarding school friends reunited by a shocking murder that mirrors their shared dark secret. The show’s atmospheric cinematography captures both the cold beauty of modern urban landscapes and the oppressive intimacy of memory. With its exploration of obsession, identity, and the power of scent to unlock buried emotions, Perfume creates a disturbing meditation on how deeply the past can poison the present.

Perfume: Release Date, Story, Plot, Episodes, Cast, Actors Salary, Actors Net Worth, Budget, OTT Response, Trailer, Songs, Awards, Review, Ratings & More

InfoPerfume
GenreDrama
LanguageEnglish
Directed byPhilipp Kadelbach
Star CastFriederike Becht
Wotan Wilke Möhring
ProducersOliver Berben, Sarah Kirkegaard
Production
companies
Constantin Film
MOOVIE GmbH
CinematographyJakub Bejnarowicz
Edited byBernd Schlegel
CountryGermany
Original networkZDFneo
(Germany)
Netflix
(international)

Perfume Storyline

Perfume opens with the discovery of a young woman’s corpse, stripped of skin and left in a ritualistic display that immediately recalls similar murders from years earlier. Detective Nadja Simon leads the investigation, which points toward a group of former boarding school friends who shared an intense bond in the 1990s. Through alternating timelines, the series reveals how five students, Juro, Roman, Butsche, Elena, and Katharina, formed a cult-like connection centered around creating the perfect scent that could capture human essence and emotion. Their obsessive experiments in olfactory manipulation led to a tragedy they buried for decades. As the present-day murders continue, each bearing the signature of their past crimes, the group realizes someone is either recreating their darkest moment or exposing secrets they thought were safely hidden. The investigation forces them to confront what they did, who they’ve become, and whether redemption is possible when guilt has been suppressed for so long.

Perfume Cast, Crew, Role, Salary, Remuneration & Net Worth

Here are the complete details of actors and actresses names in the Web Series.

1.Friederike Becht as Nadja Simon

Friederike Becht as Nadja Simon
InfoNadja Simon
Real NameFriederike Becht
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

2.Wotan Wilke Möhring as Prosecutor Grünberg

Wotan Wilke Möhring as Prosecutor Grünberg
InfoProsecutor Grünberg
Real NameWotan Wilke Möhring
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

3.Juergen Maurer as Matthias Köhler

Juergen Maurer as Matthias Köhler
InfoMatthias Köhler
Real NameJuergen Maurer
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

4.August Diehl as Moritz de Vries

August Diehl as Moritz de Vries
InfoMoritz de Vries
Real NameAugust Diehl
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

5.Ken Duken as Roman Seliger

Ken Duken as Roman Seliger
InfoRoman Seliger
Real NameKen Duken
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

6.Natalia Belitski as Elena Seliger

Natalia Belitski as Elena Seliger
InfoElena Seliger
Real NameNatalia Belitski
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

7.Christian Friedel as Daniel “Zahnlos” (“Toothless”) Sluiter

Christian Friedel as Daniel "Zahnlos" ("Toothless") Sluiter
InfoDaniel “Zahnlos” (“Toothless”) Sluiter
Real NameChristian Friedel
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Known

8.Trystan Pütter as Thomas Butsche

Trystan Pütter as Thomas Butsche
InfoThomas Butsche
Real NameTrystan Pütter
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Known
Net WorthNot Knownn

9.Marc Hosemann as Jens Brettschneider

Marc Hosemann as Jens Brettschneider
InfoJens Brettschneider
Real NameMarc Hosemann
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Knownn
Net WorthNot Knownn

10.Anja Schneider as Elisabeth Grünberg

Anja Schneider as Elisabeth Grünberg
InfoElisabeth Grünberg
Real NameAnja Schneider
Salary Per Web SeriesNot Knownn
Net WorthNot Knownn

Perfume Web Series Awards

AwardsCategoryRecipients
NANANA

Perfume Review

Perfume is a deliberately paced psychological thriller that rewards patient viewers with unsettling imagery and complex character studies. The dual timeline structure effectively builds tension, gradually revealing how youthful experimentation twisted into something monstrous. The cast delivers nuanced performances, particularly in portraying how trauma manifests differently across personalities—some through denial, others through self-destruction. The series excels in visual storytelling, using color palettes and close-ups to create claustrophobic intimacy that mirrors the characters’ inability to escape their shared past.

The concept of scent as memory trigger provides a unique angle for exploring guilt and obsession, though the show occasionally overindulges in abstract symbolism. While slower than typical crime thrillers and sometimes frustratingly opaque, this deliberate approach serves the psychological horror elements. The final episodes provide disturbing revelations about the depths of their crimes and the impossibility of true absolution. Perfume won’t satisfy viewers seeking straightforward procedural drama, but those appreciating atmospheric, character-driven darkness will find a deeply unsettling examination of how youth’s cruelty echoes through adult lives.

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