Oh, Dior. There's no denying that this brand is a mainstay in our perfume collections with a slew of iconic fragrances we’ve known and loved for decades. 

But what is the story behind the scents? Now, Dior is giving us all a rare and intimate peek behind the scenes at one of the most famous perfume houses in the world. Nose, a documentary released by the brand last week, allows viewers to join Dior’s master perfumer François Demachy on his travels around the world in search of raw ingredients for his next Dior scent. 

Apart from this current project, Demachy also had a hand in creating iconic Dior fragrances including J’Adore Eau de Toilette, Miss Dior, Sauvage Eau de Toilette and the Maison Christian Dior Collection. The filmmakers, director Clément Beauvais and producer Arthur de Kersauson, followed Demachy for two years as he travelled the globe, stopping in fourteen countries in the search for new ingredients. 

Part documentary, part travelogue, Nose is an up-close view of the source of the ingredients in their natural environments: Bergamot in Calabria, sandalwood in Sri Lanka, the patchouli in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the May roses in Grasse—Demachy’s home—among others. After a year of travel restrictions, prepare yourself for a hearty dose of wanderlust. 

The documentary also includes interviews with a wide range of fascinating people who grow and collect the plants, for a truly in-depth understanding of the process of perfume making. 

“What we wanted to convey was the idea that no documentary feature existed on a perfumer at the level of François, and it is, in fact, a fascinating job that we know almost nothing about,” said de Kersauson. 

The soundtrack is a key part of the documentary, throughout which the process of creating a fragrance is likened to composing music: The use of notes to build something more than the sum of its parts. 

“The music is a crucial part of this film,” de Kersauson said. “Basically, we did a film where we talk about scents the whole time, but you cannot make your audience smell them; this was a challenging part for us. So, in order to make the audience feel something, we used the combination of music and video. Music has a strong power in taking people places, bringing up memories, like perfume in a way, it conveys a lot of emotions.” 

Up until now, the process of the famous French house’s perfume creation has been a carefully guarded secret—the film’s tagline is “The most secret job in the world”—so this feature-length documentary offers unprecedented access to that classified process. 

However, despite the alleged openness, there is much that Nose leaves shrouded in mystery. 

“What remains a secret above all are the exact lists of ingredients and quantities used in the perfumes,” said Beauvais. “The process is not a secret because that is what François allowed us to show, but the ‘recipes’ are, because there is no perfume patent. So, we showed everything we could show, and we showed the angle that we thought was the most interesting in the behind-the-scenes of fragrance creation, through François’ relationships.”

Ingredients aside, Demachy himself is a fascinating subject, with a job that is the envy of the whole industry.

“Going onsite to see and smell with your own senses, it makes all the difference in the world,” Demachy says. “In a ‘normal’ year I spend about 20 to 30 percent of my time going on the quest for raw material, [to] India, Sri Lanka, Calabria and Grasse, of course. I usually go to Calabria at least once a year, for instance. It is an important part of my job; being at Dior I am lucky enough to work with the materials that I truly want.”

"It’s the perfume, more than anything, that is mysterious," Demachy added. "We persist in trying to explain it, describe it and dissect it, but it is never completely defined. I believe that a scent is like love—you can’t explain it."

You can watch the trailer for Nose, which was selected for Tribeca Film Festival 2020 down below. The entire documentary can be streamed from Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play. 

In the meantime, have a peek at the perfumes that always get the best reviews.

Author Bio:

Hannah Warren

Hannah was born in New Zealand and is based wherever she can set down a laptop. She's been playing with words since she could first pick up a pen, and in her spare time she's a pole dancer, pasta glutton and dog mum.

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