an exile smelling of rose and gunpowder
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ARTE.TV – ON DEMAND – DOCUMENTARY
In the essay “Lavender”, included in the collection Alibis (Flammarion, 2011), the North American writer André Aciman makes a subtle sensory and memorial story from “the old cologne” of his father and of European olfactory peregrinations – notably in Italy, where part of the author’s (Jewish) family emigrated after being driven out of Egypt by Nasser. In Alexandria, when he was a childa drop of this cologne on a handkerchief and Aciman felt “sheltered, happy, pampered. A smell of lavender, and pleasant thoughts arose – about life, about those I loved, about [lui]-same. (…) A smell of lavender, and nothing could separate us. »
The rose is for Abdulkader Fattouh (born in 1991) the key olfactory element of a family history
It’s a bit what tells, through the example of a young Syrian refugee who came to France to study perfumery, the interesting and touching documentary by Mélanie Gouby, The Essence of Memories, the Journey of an Apprentice Perfumer. Like lavender for the young André Aciman, the rose is for Abdulkader Fattouh (born in 1991) the key olfactory element of a family history.
His grandfather had founded a perfume business and ran a shop in the old city of Aleppo, bombed and destroyed during the battle held there from 2012. Abdulkader passed by on his way home from school, curious about what “magical liquid that smells good and makes people happy”. At home, the grandmother, “rose expert”, makes jams whose sweet aromas last for several days. Everything is rosy there, especially since, as Abdulkader explains, “This very rich, sensual scent, loved by everyone in our culture, is worn by both men and women”.
Refusal to take up arms
For the young man, who learned to speak French well and who studied, in Versailles (Yvelines), at Isipca, a major school for the professions of perfume, cosmetics and aromas, founded in 1970 by Jean-Jacques Guerlain, the smell of exile is also that of gunpowder, which he evokes in front of fireworks. Immediate correspondence with these weapons that he refused to take in Syria, and which forced him into exile on a canoe where about fifty people had gathered instead of the twenty regulations.
A fragrant picture is recomposed when Abdulkader recalls what he believed to be “the last moments of [s]for life…” on an inflatable canoe
The dread aroused by this moment comes back to him, which he expresses modestly. And also the smell of the inflatable canoe which “smelled of new rubber, that of a sea without waves, salt, seaweed”. Fragrant picture that is recomposed when Abdulkader remembers what he thought he was “the last moments of [s]for life… “
During a perfume creation exercise, at the end of the year, the young man will of course integrate the rose into his composition – which he submits in five formulas to the noses of his fellow students. But also the smell of gunpowder, “this smell of war, sulphurous, very smoky, disgusting”.
While he must orient himself professionally, this future nose hopes “bringing his know-how back to the family business”even if nothing is more uncertain: “I don’t know if I will be able to go back one day. » But Abdulkader has a nice formula with the scent of hope: “Being a refugee is not an identity. What defines us are our dreams. »
Perfumery is Abdulkader’s passion. From a very young age, he has liked to associate smells with memories: for him… https://t.co/cUhQTRhg7B
The Essence of Memories, the Journey of an Apprentice Perfumer, documentary by Mélanie Gouby (Fr., 2022, 29 min). Available on Arte.tv until June 5, 2025.
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