It's a name that's easy to misunderstand, and it's easy to think it's a erotic movie. But it's actually a very deeply explored "crossroads of life."
As the lieutenant colonel gives at the end of the film, he says: "In my life, I have often come to a crossroads, and I always know which way is right. But without exception I never chose the right path. Because it's so hard to take that road!"
Standing at the crossroads of life, where to go? Do you have the ability to see your inner choices? Do you have the courage to stand up for your choices?
The two men in the film stand at such a crossroads in life.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie studied at a private high school on a scholarship. He and another student inadvertently witnessed the masterminds of a prank. The school put pressure on Charlie, and when he said it, he recommended going to Harvard. If you don't say it, you will be immediately expelled.
Charlie has a Thanksgiving holiday time to think about while working.
Charlie's part-time job was to take care of a blind colonel. He was not a good lord, rude, arrogant, and difficult to get along with.
At this time, the lieutenant colonel was also at a crossroads in his life. He once had unlimited scenery in the military, and later he was blinded by a drunken detonator. Life quickly fell from the top to the bottom. Although the irritability is not reduced, it has a bluff of "last pride".
The lieutenant colonel chose the path of "suicide" for himself at the crossroads. He took Charlie to New York and used his veterans for a final trip.
Stay in the best hotels, eat the best restaurants, drive the most expensive sports cars, dance the most beautiful tango... The lieutenant colonel was not as "bastard" as he had at first, and he also had a gentle side of a gentleman of integrity. He didn't really want to die, it was just that the road to "life" was too difficult for him. Charlie saw him slowly.
When the lieutenant colonel decides to shoot himself, Charlie desperately tries to rob him. The lieutenant colonel shouted at me for a reason to live. Charlie said "I'll give you two, you're the most handsome man I've ever seen jumping tango and driving a Ferrari~"
A person who is so "hard", from hysteria to suddenly decadent, that moment is really sad.
The lieutenant colonel finally chose the path of "life", and he still had too much attachment to this world. Charlie pulled him around at the intersection.
Charlie, on the other hand, did not hesitate much about his own choice of crossroads. Despite the pressure exerted by the school authorities and the betrayal of his peers, he firmly chose not to betray his classmates.
In fact, the three planners were not even Charlie's friends, in fact, Charlie did not agree with their behavior, but his inner conscience guided him to go that way, and he bravely went on.
Because of Charlie's non-cooperation, the school wants to expel Charlie. At this time, the lieutenant colonel gave a speech, criticizing the school for not seeing the nobility of Charlie's soul, but instead encouraging those whose souls were broken, but "the soul has no prosthesis." The lieutenant colonel's speech won the applause of the whole house this time at Charlie's crossroads, and the lieutenant colonel stepped forward for him.
The film ends happily, with the lieutenant colonel meeting love and beginning to reconcile with his family. Charlie was not disciplined. They all walked the crossroads without any danger and embarked on the right and bright path.
Finally, three more points:
1, the reason why the movie is called "Smell the Woman" is because the lieutenant colonel only needs to rely on his sense of smell to know the woman's height and appearance.
2, The middle colonel in the film talks to the beautiful woman, which is called textbook-level perfection. The tango he danced with the beautiful woman was also known as the most beautiful tango in the history of cinema.
3, Al Pacino's aura is too powerful. At first, it felt a little too hard, a little uncomfortable. But then I came to feel that this discomfort was right. He did not want to play a comfortable person, but a desperate and painful person in his heart, but with the habits and rage of a former officer. In order to disguise the pain, this fury may be even worse.