Dior’s New Fragrance Documentary Is a Must-Watch This Month

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If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to create a scent loved by the world, Dior Beauty has answered that call. For a full year, director Matthieu Menu shadowed Francis Kurkdjian as the Dior director of perfume creation took on his biggest challenge: reinventing the iconic J’adore eau de parfum as his first project for the lauded French house.

The hour-long documentary that resulted, Inside the Dream, is an escape into the true craftsmanship of fragrance, a front-row look at the painstaking creative process of the world-renowned perfumer behind the most celebrated perfumes of our time—not to mention an exposition of the many other expert hands it takes to develop a scent.

Viewers will get glimpses as Kurkdjian travels throughout Paris and Grasse in France, Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan, the Indian city of Madurai, and Los Angeles seeking inspiration and experiencing the fragrance’s ingredients in their rawest forms. “We forget where [the ingredients] come from, how it was grown and by whom,” Kurkdjian says in the film.

Director Menu describes Kurkdjian as a “fragrance creator completely in tune with his era, not in an ivory tower, and thanks to the trusting relationship we established, he accepted to talk to us really easily, in a transparent and authentic way.” He continues: “Capturing his pure, sensorial joy in India, when he discovered the fields of jasmine sambac, was a truly precious experience. It is an incredible moment in the film, when the viewer is with him, feeling his happiness and surprise at smelling the nuances and the facets of a flower.”

The late Christian Dior’s opulent personal home makes a rare appearance, complete with thematic rooms (think: Miss Dior), expansive gardens, breathtaking terraces, and tranquil pools. “Our first meeting took place at the Château de La Colle Noire, which was a haven of peace for Christian Dior in Provence,” Menu says. “The soul of Christian Dior is palpable, especially in his magnificent garden, which we wanted to film as though we were breathing it in.”

Another guest? Actor Charlize Theron—Dior muse and longtime face of J’adore—who weighs in with her initial thoughts on Kurkdjian’s revamped fragrance. Here’s a sneak peek of their first interaction:

The culmination of the film is the reveal of L’Or de J'adore, which debuted this September. Anticipate the same sublime J’adore florals with new additions, including orange blossom,Jasmine grandiflorum, and centifolia rose absolutes. The show-stopping, display-worthy bottle features the same elongated neck as its predecessor and can be personally engraved—perfect for the holiday season.

“The ultimate objective was to have people want to smell this fragrance, and I think we accomplished that!” Menu says. Go Inside the Dream yourself on Prime Video, starting today, December 1.

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