A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
Scents are elusive.
Barely touching our skin, they go on their journey away from us again.
The perfumer dabbles in the art of captivating
what in its heart desires to escape, without destroying its soul.
Nearly there.
PERFUME
CAPTIVATION
It was always so nice at Merten's mother's.
We had dinner together.
The father was there, too, and...
we would talk to each other.
And when you were 17, the perfume had run out?
Moritz created the perfume. Only he knew how to.
He was great in chemistry, better than the teacher.
We...
We brought him the ingredients.
He extracted the pheromones from the skin
and the odor from the hair.
And Moritz? Did he take part in the murder?
No.
No. We had been hoping he'd at least cut the tissue off for us.
They had killed a dog before.
And Moritz had created a perfume from it.
The young puppies always followed whoever was wearing the perfume.
They thought they were following their mother.
We chose to bury Merten's body in the same place we had buried the dog.
The ground there was so soft...
due to the water.
Elena.
It was so spooky.
The dog looked as if it was still alive, it wasn't decomposed.
They don't die.
What if they don't die?
We waited until the last minute.
And then I...
cut the tissue off.
And Toothless shaved him.
We... We buried the boy deeper because we thought
it wouldn't be the same as with the dog, and then...
we put the dog on top
and then all the earth, but the boy didn't die.
He's dead. You can be certain of that.
No, I see him every day.
On the way to kindergarten. In the streetcar. He's everywhere.
I think that us killing him might be a dream
and life is nothing but a nightmare.
And one day, I'll wake up.
Food tastes like cotton wool,
people are behind a wall of cotton wool,
and I'm not real.
If it wasn't for Magda...
I'd be glad to finally get punished.
Excuse me.
Hi, honey.
We can manage without her. Are you hungry?
I want Mom's dumplings and Mom's potato puree.
I can't cook that.
And a lake of gravy in the puree.
What about pizza?
The pizza with the cat like the one the girl ate.
- Come on, I'll get one out of the freezer. - No, the pizza with the cat.
Time of death?
8 to 36 hours ago.
No later than 3:30 a.m.
Fierce pattern.
Simon speaking. Yeah, it looks like it.
No, but could you check Missing Persons for a female wheelchair user?
We left her alone.
We should never have left her alone.
She can't be on her own.
My mother was at a class reunion and I attended a conference.
My baby.
My little girl.
When she was 16, she was almost killed by a car.
She fell down the stairs when she was five.
The birth...
They're twins.
Lydia came first.
Then Julia.
Lydia's birth took too long.
This caused Julia to have anoxia. That's why she had spastic hemiparesis
and had to use a wheelchair.
Everybody loved her.
She was the sunshine.
I always knew, those He loves, God takes early.
But it wasn't God.
It was the Devil who was after her.
Do you recognize anyone in these photos?
That one on the right is my patient, Daniel Sluiter.
Actually, he wanted to come by yesterday.
He met my sister a few times here.
Was it him?
Good morning.
Now, Elena Seliger was still here at the station
at the time of the murder of Julia Suchanow.
Under surveillance when the crime occurred.
Under surveillance.
And under surveillance, as well.
Daniel Sluiter...
knew victim number one, had sex with victim number two
and knew victim number three.
He's our man.
Now, all we need is proof.
Get started.
Where's Ms. Simon?
Well, well...
Little Elena killed the boy. And you probably think somehow I...
had something to do with it.
You created the perfume.
Now that you mention it,
I remember, that summer Elena and Toothless, Daniel Sluiter,
asked me to make a perfume.
They even brought tissue samples. From axillary and genital areas.
- A bigger breed of dog, I thought. - It was a child.
Yeah. Those two tricked me.
I hope that won't happen to me again.
Did someone bring you tissue material of a dog this morning?
My God. You have some imagination.
I went for a walk.
Which your colleague who is watching me could confirm had he not fallen asleep.
And before that, I dedicated my time to perfume composition,
a completely intellectual activity. Look.
This is beauty.
First, you get carried off by a wild stream
developing into something almost vulgar were it not for that sheer tone
of tenderness, love and innocence in the background.
You die
and are reborn with every inhalation of this perfume.
How many more are supposed to die?
Would you stop that now? This is perfection.
It's just like back then, right?
You've found someone desperate enough to kill for you
and you whip up perfume from that.
- Who am I supposed to have put up to that? - You don't care about those who die.
- Where do you want to start looking? - It's someone who is inconspicuous...
- In Germany? In France? - ...with a connection to you.
I was holidaying in Siebenbürgen last year.
Someone who's desperately looking for love.
That's a ridiculous search criteria.
"Someone who's desperately looking for love."
We all are.
Was it one of these cars?
I can't tell.
You'd have to take pictures of the glove boxes.
- What? - Well, because of the sticker.
- What sticker? - On the glove box.
I thought it was dark.
Yeah, but I shone a light into it because of the room.
A black and white sticker is easily distinguishable, right?
Mommy's got good eyes, huh?
Yeah, and you're my lovelies, right? Yeah.
What did the sticker look like?
There were stick men.
Hildegard likes you.
You're no longer a suspect in the current murder case. You can go.
Why do I not have to go to prison?
You were 13 back then. Under the age of criminal responsibility.
You won't be prosecuted.
And what about Toothless?
Daniel Sluiter.
Can he go as well?
Sluiter was 15 then. Accountability begins at 14.
Complicity in murder does not expire by limitation.
No, he...
He did it to help me. Just like now.
So I can leave my husband, so he won't take Magda away from me.
I can stay with Magda, right?
You won't be prosecuted,
but it doesn't change that you murdered a child.
Therefore, I doubt you'll get custody for your daughter.
Nobody saw Sluiter with Katharina Läufer.
And the old lady next door didn't recognize his car.
I'm wondering if she's got her head on straight.
She claims to have seen a sticker with stick men on the dashboard.
But didn't notice the color.
Color perception doesn't work at night, contrast perception does.
What's wrong with you? What do you want?
We've got Sluiter.
Do you want to question him again?
You go ahead. I don't believe it was Sluiter.
"Thomas Butsche was fucking his own mother."
Don't do anything stupid.
My boyfriend left me.
I'm working 16 hours a day. I'd make a shitty mother.
That's why I need this certificate.
Is there not maybe a side of you that's saying,
"I want to have this child. I'm looking forward to it"?
It's not about that.
Is there someone who could help you? A friend, maybe?
I told you, I'm working 16 hours a day.
What about your mother?
I want that certificate.
My job is to find out with you...
- See this... and this? - ...if maybe there is another way...
I can show you more scars if you want. My mother was alone with me.
I'll be on my own, as well.
But you're not your mother.
Ms. Simon, what are you scared of?
My mother often went away for days.
She probably thought nothing could happen. I was locked in and couldn't get out.
No one could get in.
I missed her, for some reason.
I wanted to find her.
I wanted out.
- Hello. - Hi.
- Crappy weather. - Yeah.
Come. Hey, my big boy!
This way. Hurry up a little.
Why do we have to go to Daddy today?
Yes?
Daddy has to have a word. Keep going, but don't scribble on the tables.
It's the right decision.
You'll sleep easy again.
Well...
Well, then...
Goodbye, Mr. Prosecutor.
It was nice.
What are you doing to me?
God, you're so sexy.
- Can you come by tonight? - No!
Come see me, asshole.
- No! - Come, asshole!
Get lost.
Who are you, anyway?
Just great.
I just want to surprise her.
You have to understand we can't just let any stranger see the kids.
You need to file an application.
If you just ask her if she wants to see me?
We have our directives.
See that?
"Sex victim"?
That's me.
I was on my own, as well.
I know how she feels.
Okay, then give me your pizza.
She can have it in my office so no one sees.
Next time, you might want to bring a chocolate bar instead.
Thank you.
What are you doing?
I'm finished here.
Meaning?
You have your perp.
I have here a long list of places Sluiter claims to have been yesterday.
It needs to be checked. I'm due in court.
- You have enough officers for that. - Are you serious?
So that's what you call collaboration.
Give me the list.
Do something useful, Brettschneider. You can drive me.
You must have lost your license for drinking.
Right.
We'll talk to the psychologist.
The psychologist was the painfully dull sister of the murder victim.
Are they chosen for being as ugly as possible?
And in between, Sluiter says he was at the old house.
You don't know what "bukkake" is?
She killed the boy single-handedly with three stabs in the chest.
CHECK OUT BRETTSCHNEIDER
Premeditated.
DID HE KNOW K AND PEARL?
Yeah. Okay, Mr. Köhler, you can leave now.
Goodbye.
Listen, honey, no need for secrets.
Everyone knows you're carrying on with Grünberg.
So, if you're ever short a man...
Take that away.
Where I grew up, there were lots of guys like you.
Mouths like whores but pricks like kids.
If you want, I'll jerk you off.
I'll jerk your little wiener right here at the curb.
Go on, I'll make sure you can look straight ahead again. Nobody else does.
Can't wait for your sad noodle.
Now then, a child murderer is not suitable as a mother.
There is no reason to entrust you with the care of your daughter Magda.
But when Magda...
When Magda was born...
everything changed.
Yeah.
Alcohol changed everything. She drinks.
Can't deal with simple tasks. How can she look after the child?
But he... He has...
If he's an unfit father, as well...
What will happen to Magda? Will she end up in a home?
Do you have reason to believe your husband is unfit?
No.
He's very affectionate towards Magda.
Very patient and kind.
Always, actually.
Right. The child will stay with the father for now.
Accompanied access for the mother on weekends only.
Yes, he was here.
With Anja and Pearl.
Do you always remember which men see which girls?
Nah. But when one of them is funny, we tell each other.
The girls thought they had to be careful around him.
Why?
Pearl was bashing him a bit, something like that.
But he really lost it.
After he left Pearl, he went to see Anja and suffocated her for a bit.
A bit?
If Butsche had been here, he'd have kicked him out in a way
he wouldn't have been able to walk for days.
He suffocated her? How?
I don't know where he suddenly got the line from.
Here.
Thank you.
So, when exactly did you see him?
Two days ago.
You know, I'm treating Mr. Sluiter for an early attachment disorder
with ambivalent attachment style due to neglect by his mother.
The chronic attention deficit has led to a dread of intimacy
with a desire for it at the same time.
He is repeating this primary attachment experience
by consuming Internet porn and thus, frequenting places where...
real intimacy and contact are not possible.
- You really know the score. - Excuse me.
Yes, Simon speaking.
What made you think of Brettschneider?
I'll explain that later. What did you find out?
He was involved with Pearl. I don't know about Katharina Läufer yet.
What about the sperm traces on the mattress?
Were they not compared to an internal database?
Was Brettschneider included?
I'll double-check with the lab.
One more thing.
According to the coroner, Julia Suchanow drowned.
Water in her lungs. The crime was committed somewhere else.
- One second. - Okay, I'll wait.
Your connection is on hold.
Look at this.
This is beauty.
First, you get carried off by a wild stream
developing into something almost vulgar were it not for that sheer tone
of tenderness, love and innocence in the background.
Everybody loved her.
She was the sunshine.
I loved K.
I spied on her at night.
When she jumped into her swimming pool, naked,
I choked the chicken, if you get me.
And now she's dead.
Where did your colleague go?
I didn't even have the courage to knock on her door.
Let me go! Are you...
Get off me!
Mom!
You die
and are reborn with every inhalation of this perfume.
This is perfection.
He attacked me.
Give it to me.
What?
Come on now.
Don't bother.
I can't smell.
And now, hand me the perfume.
You killed, and Moritz de Vries created the perfume for you.
Give it to me.
A perfume that makes everybody love you.
You want that perfume for yourself.
And if you kill me...
no one will know you have it.
People think...
love is beautiful.
But that's not true.
Love is just...
a word.
For thousands of different things.
There's possessive love,
destructive love,
love that will destroy you.
Using the perfume needs to be carefully considered.
I used too much of it.
You can see what happened to me.
I learn from it, but someone like you...
emotional, passionate...
not very much under control...
Someone like you, it will lead into the abyss.
You will look for the wrong ones.
You'll end up like Grenouille.
Mauled...
and eaten up.
Don't do it.
Here, honey.
LOVE
Brettschneider and the psychologist are dead.
Nadja, what happened in there?
What happened?
Now, what happened in there?
What are you doing to me?
BASED ON THE THEME OF THE NOVEL
"PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER" BY PATRICK SÜSKIND
Subtitle translation by Britta Boyle