Apocalyptic movies are steadily becoming more and more complex and "human" with the release of “Perfect Sense." Humankind battling against a giant asteroid/failing Earth core/alien invasion appears no longer adequate enough for the steadfast moviegoer. (Look out for other new style apocalyptic epics (or sci-fi dramas) around now in “Melancholia” and “Contagion.") In this seventh film by David Mackenzie, we delve deeper into the effects of a global pandemic on one couple's new love.
First released in February this year at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, this won the award for Best New British Feature. Initially, it reads something like “Contagion” from the viewpoint of a new couple. This is a love story with a global epidemic as the backdrop and the thing that both threatens their deepening relationship and brings them closer together at the same time.
Former Bond girl Eva Green plays epidemiologist Susan, a contrast to her new lover Ewan McGregor’s rough-around-the-edges chef, Michael. Susan is looking into a case where a truck driver has a crying fit and then loses his sense of smell at the wheel. She discovers that many more are experiencing something worryingly similar throughout Europe and, possibly, the world. Next comes the loss of taste, which, for Michael, is something he relies on not only in his work but also in his ways with women. Gradually, senses are lost one by one, always proceeded by a bout of related emotion like smell and memories of loss, which Susan explains in voiceover. Mackenzie uses the premise to showcase their relationship and allows us to explore our precious senses.
Although fairly new to feature films, Mackenzie's previous successes on the big screen are highly memorable and distinct. In 2007, he directed Jamie Bell in “Hallam Foe,” where young Hallam’s (Bell) spying reveals dark secrets within himself. He went darker earlier with “Young Adam” (2003), a gritty psychosexual drama about a barge worker/drifter (McGregor again) who knows more than he’s letting on about a recent murder.
Despite the gloomy outlook and generally depressed feeling, the film, neatly packed into 88 minutes, has optimism at its core. This is mainly in the form of the deepening relationship between Michael and Susan as the pandemic worsens. Through their consuming love for each other, the audience can breathe a slight sigh of relief among the panic and doom saturating the rest of the film.