SCENT OF A WOMAN

The movie SCENT OF A WOMAN is an intimate drama that revolves around two very different men–Frank, who is old, cynical, suicidal, and blind, and Charlie, who is young, naive and optimistic. Charlie responds to Frank’s advertisement for a housesitter over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Surprisingly, Frank plans for the two to spend the weekend at a sumptious hotel in New York in search of one “last tour of pleasures,” as Frank tells him, before he ends his life. Instead of ending his life, Frank learns from Charlie about the beauty of life, and in turn, Frank becomes a surrogate father to Charlie and encourages him to stand up for what he believes at his preparatory school.

The story shows how even the most depraved sinner can be given a chance to start a new life, and that forgiveness is given to those who ask for it. However, such forgiveness and salvation is impossible apart from Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sins. Thus, the movie merely hints at a temporary solution to Frank’s problem–a solution which will not deliver him from eternal damnation. Furthermore, the film may lead men to believe that there is the possibilty of new life apart from Christ, leading them away from the Truth toward eternal alienation. Thus, SCENT OF A WOMAN does have a positive moral for those who have a biblical perspective, but one must be willing to weather a storm of expletives and crude jokes to experience it, as well as a confused plot. For others, it will only lead deeper into alienation from the Way, the Truth and the Light.