Scent of a Woman (1992) - Martin Brest

By Lara Culcu.

Warning. Contains Spoilers. 

The first glimpse we get of Colonel Frank Slade is of a brash, angry man who has turned away from his well-meaning family towards alcohol to deal with his blindness, inflicted by his own stupid mistake.

However, as the film goes on, we start to get a deeper insight into his personality. He is funny, romantic, and though he doesn’t seem to show it at first, he cares about his caretaker, Charlie.  

This brings us to our main character. Charlie Simms is a prep school student at Baird School, attending the school on a scholarship. Needing money over the weekend, he agrees to be the colonel's caretaker. Just before taking the job, he witnesses his friends pull a prank on the headmaster, who knows that Charlie witnessed it and bribes him with a letter of recommendation to Harvard in an attempt to convince him to divulge the names of the perpetrators. 

Played by Chris O'Donnell, Charlie has a charming innocence around him, a naïve optimism. He doesn't want to give out the names of the perpetrators, even though an acceptance to Harvard would completely change his life, and he is endlessly patient with the colonel, who is abrasive to him when they first meet.

Meanwhile, Al Pacino gives a performance that is worthy of his first and only Oscar, though it's debatable whether it is his best. He is utterly convincing as a blind man - one who harbors a lot of bitterness and regret. He carries guilt over how he treats his niece, who he treats rather carelessly although she tries her best to take care of him in addition to her family, and regrets his bad choice to juggle some grenades that led to his blindness.

Despite Charlie's protests, the colonel drags him along with him to New York, where he reveals his intention to kill himself after a weekend of fun. 

Rather than the plot, it is the characters we are invested in. They form a good duo, with the colonel's harshness balancing out Charlie's soft-spoken demeanor. Their friendship isn't instantaneous. Charlie is wary of him at first, but when they warm up to each other, it feels earned. 

Charlie represents innocence and purity, from his personality to his blond hair and wide blue eyes. The colonel represents the opposite; he was an army man, and he's much older than Charlie, more experienced. 

He speaks constantly of women, which he regards in a chivalrous fashion. He can recognize the perfume of a woman and tell her what the scent is, and form a judgment of her character based on it, even figuring out what she looks like. 

This serves to emphasize the extreme loneliness the colonel is living in. 

He has lived his whole life in the army, and by his old age, he doesn't have any friends or a wife. Until he met Charlie, he spent all his time in his room, brushing off his niece and refusing to interact with her young children.

The colonel seems to regard women as the only source of goodness in his world. Alcohol, he sees as a treatment for his pain, and everything else is a distraction from his pain. 

In one of the most famous scenes in cinema, he invites a young woman (Gabrielle Anwar) to tango with him in a spectacular dance. It is a touching scene; one that feels like the epitome of cinema. Beautiful music, talented actors, and skilled camera work that immerses the viewer in the scene. 

The soundtrack of the film is excellent, amplifying the emotion of the story on-screen without manipulating the viewer to feel a certain way. 

The cinematography is also great, with warm, autumn colors. Often, films use cool colors to create a melancholy mood, but this film manages to create that mood with a warm color scheme. Though the colonel intends to have a weekend of fun, there is an overarching sense of sorrow when we consider the state of his life; his blindness, his loneliness, and his desperate regret for the mistakes he made.

We reach a point that feels like the climax when Charlie stops the colonel from shooting himself in a fight to wrestle away the pistol, but later, we reach the real climax at the courtroom scene where the formal inquiry takes place in front of the disciplinary committee. 

Just when Charlie believes he will face the headmaster on his own, the colonel shows up to support him. Charlie insistently refuses to give the names, prompting the headmaster to threaten to expel him. 

In another iconic scene, the colonel stands up and gives a passionate speech defending Charlie, criticizing the headmaster and the school culture itself. In the end, though Charlie doesn't get the recommendation letter, he is allowed to remain at the school without further disciplinary action. 

The film ends with a refreshed sense of hope. The colonel greets his niece's children warmly, and Charlie is able to continue his studies, having gained a father figure, albeit one who was reluctant at first.

It is a beautiful film, with a touching albeit slightly archetypal storyline. But it is the characters at the heart of this film that make it such a great one.