The timing couldn't be worse for the release of German director Tom Tykwer's adaptation of Patrick Suskind's best-selling novel. How many of us feel like seeing a film about a serial killer who murders young women and leaves their naked bodies around?

Yet there is much to admire in this European-made, English-language production. The greatest difficulty to overcome, of course, was to tell a story on film that addresses the sense of smell so directly.

It is some relief, however, that the progress of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the perfumemaker killer who wants to distil the essence of his victims' scent, is not revealed in Smellorama.

All the more so, since we watch him being born in the filth of the Paris fish market of 1738, before being carted off to the rancid orphanage of Madame Gaillard, where he learns to experience the world through his olfactory prowess. Later, by now played by Ben Wishaw, he is sent to work in a reeking tannery and finally into the big city itself where, amid the

odours of more filth, he sniffs the scent of a young girl who is to be his first victim. It becomes his life's work to capture such an essence again. Apprenticed next to a down-at-heel perfumier (Dustin Hoffman, enjoying himself immensely in a character cameo), he resolves to mix a scent for himself that is irresistible, which involves more murders, since its essential ingredient comes from pretty young women.

Up to this point, Perfume could hardly be better. Production values are good and the film leaves us in little doubt that the 18th century may have provided great art but also a good deal of putrefaction.

But then it begins to unwind, since one murder is much like the next, at least until the gorgeous daughter (Rachel Hurd-Wood) of a rich merchant (Alan Rickman) is spied. Will he manage to distil her scent too, or will he be caught before another tragedy?

The finale, which I won't give away, progresses from a bit of an admittedly handsome plod into a kind of magic realism that, among contemporary directors, perhaps only the brilliant Mexican Guillermo Del Toro could accomplish. Tykwer simply can't, even though he tries desperately hard.

Some have already criticised Wishaw for not being up to his role as the sinister Grenouille, but I disagree. He does very well, acting as much with his nose as with any other part of his body. He convinces me as a psychopathic idiot savant rather than an evil monster.

Ultimately, though, Perfume itself doesn't convince. It is much too long and much too repetitive. It looks a treat and you do seem to get more than a few whiffs of both the scent of angels and the stench of the time. Watchable, yes. Engrossing only part of the time.

• Opens Boxing Day.