Dior’s ‘Inside the Dream’ documentary spotlights perfumer Francis Kurkdjian

Inside the Dream, a documentary broadcast on November 29 on the international platforms of French channel Canal+, follows master perfumer Francis Kurkdjian in his worldwide travels, from the gardens of the La Colle Noire castle in the Grasse countryside, in southern France, to the temples of Japan for the Kodo ceremony, to the jasmine fields of India.

Kurkdjian, the creative director of Dior’s perfumes since 2021, is the real star of the film directed by Matthieu Menu, whose lens follows Kurkdjian as he embraces his first major challenge at Dior: reinventing the J’adore fragrance.

At the film’s Parisian preview screening, at the Royal room in the Rex cinema, with scented strips adding an olfactory dimension to the performance, production company Terminal 9 and the Canal+ staff said that the initial project was to document the creative process of a Dior fashion collection. Following a conversation with Olivier Bialobos, deputy managing director in charge of global communication and image of Dior, the project shifted its focus to Kurkdjian.

“We were fortunate that Olivier [Bialobos], Véronique Courtois and Francis welcomed us, giving us the opportunity to tell the story we wanted,” said Menu and producer Claude Lacaze, speaking before the screening. The documentary’s crew was nevertheless able to film a runway show, follow the label’s global brand ambassador Charlize Theron, and speak to Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri, putting the LVMH group’s label and its main stars centre-stage.

Inside the Dream charts Kurkdjian’s journey from his first days at the Dior offices in central Paris, to the presentation of the new J’adore perfume in the luxurious setting of the National School of Fine Arts in the French capital in September. It follows his research on the life of Christian Dior himself, his investigation of various scents, his meetings with the Dior Parfums management team to discuss each new version of the future fragrance. The film attempts to give a sense of the pressure felt by Kurkdjian, of his doubts and successes, in a tone that does occasionally feel a little too close to the label’s own story-telling.

“Thank you for taking the chance to talk about perfume in a film,” said Kurkdjian. “The project got off the ground almost as soon as I joined Dior. The only thing I asked was to give me a bit of leeway. I’m not an actor, I’m a fragrance designer. The label’s workflow was somewhat disturbed. I’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the fragrance design studio, which has kept working throughout the [filming] period. And ‘thank you’ to my lucky stars, including Chantal Ross, who let me realise my first dream in 1995,” he added.

Leaving aside the photography and soundtrack choices, more consistent with a brand communication video, the film does succeed in getting the audience to engage and sympathise with Kurkdjian’s quest. A nice way for Dior to promote another of its many assets, besides star designers like Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones.