If you’re looking for something new to stream this week – and, really, who isn’t? — please direct your attention to a film that includes more dreamy locations than Emily in Paris, as many tirelessly determined characters as Lupin, and celebrity cameos that wouldn’t seem out of place in an episode of Call My Agent. Nose, a project commissioned by Parfums Christian Dior that premieres on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play today, follows acclaimed perfumer François Demachy on his never-ending quest to find the perfect ingredients to make some of the world’s most popular fragrances. And unlike the binge-worthy shows mentioned above, this isn’t fiction.
“François is famous for being the perfumer traveller,” says Clément Beauvais, the film’s director, who tags along with Demachy over the course of two years as he traverses the globe sourcing the finest raw materials (jasmine, bergamot, patchouli), from Indonesia to Italy. “If it means going to some really remote places at the far end of the world, he will do it,” says Beauvais.
Demachy, who has been Dior’s perfume-creator— or “head nose”—since 2006, has a resume that includes blockbuster fragrances for brands such as Chanel. But his body of work at Dior spans some of the storied French house’s greatest franchises—from Miss Dior and Dior Homme, to the inception of 2018’s Jennifer Lawrence-fronted Joy. Demachy’s insistence on quality is legendary, but so too is his dedication to the more granular parts of his job, from mixing accords in his lab, to literally getting his hands dirty in the flower fields and production facilities where those notes begin their journey from soil to bottle.
Farmers tend to one of the small flower farms Demachy regularly champions.
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