What perfume would survive a zombie apocalypse? In case you were wondering, wonder no more: Guerlain Shalimar is the answer! At least that’s what happens in Cargo, a zombie survival film set in Australia, currently shown on Netflix. The Jade Jagger-designed bottle of eau de toilette [1] appears several times, and we soon learn why. The protagonist, Andy (Martin Freeman), first take it out of his backpack and sprays some fragrance in the air.
He smells his own hand.
And in one line explains why he’s carrying it in his survival kit. He tells his baby daughter Rosie that he “can smell Mommy.” Shalimar literally stands for someone who is no more.
Later, when Andy and Rosie meet Lorraine (Caren Pistorius), the bottle pops up again.
The perfume calms Rosie down: it’s her Linus’ security blanket.
Finally, the bottle can be seen in the hands of Thoomi (Simone Landers), the girl whom Andy and Rosie end up travelling with. She sprays some perfume while alone: she wants to smell the fragrance which seems to have such an importance for father and daughter.
We last see Shalimar again in the hands of Thoomi. This is a very beautiful and touching scene (no spoilers!): the sprays of perfume here are like a caress, a chance for closure, a sweet goodbye.
Now let’s see why Shalimar – and not another perfume – was given this function in the film. Yolanda Ramke, co-director of Cargo, when asked about it at a Q&A session on Reddit, explained:
It wasn’t scripted as being Shalimar but it was a member of our art department who wrangled out that arrangement, and the reason why it worked out was that the guy who ‘founded’ that perfume, his wife had passed away and he read our script and he realized that the story was about a man honouring his wife with this perfume – and so he allowed us to use it because of that component of the story.
Lots of interesting information here. The “founder” Ramke is referring to is Jean-Paul Guerlain, who worked as master perfumer until 2002; the script is very emotional, so I’m glad the last perfumer of the Guerlain dinasty appreciated the intensity of the family bonds depicted in it. Plus, it’s important to notice how Shalimar was created as a homage to another tragic love story [2]: it’s named after the Shalimar Gardens near Lahore, a symbol of the love between the emperor Shãh Jahãn and the favourite member of his harem, Mumtaz Mahal. When she died of childbirth, the emperor built the Taj Mahal in her memory.
[1] I think it’s the eau de toilette, because the eau de parfum is almost golden in colour, while this one looks definitely lighter in the bottle.
[2] You can read a thorough history of Shalimar on Monsieur Guerlain’s website.
There are some make-up products in Randy’s locker. All of them are from Maxi by Max Factor, an affordable beauty line which was on the market from the late 1970s to the 1980s.
The white tube contains Quick & Clean, an eye make-up remover gel.
There are two bottles of nail polish, one red and one dusty rose.
The bottle with the white stopper contains the liquid foundation Maxi-Fresh, which promised to stay “fresh for 8 hours”.
There’s a Guerlain flacon quadrilobe on Lea de Lonval’s dressing table. The front sticker is not visible, so it’s impossible to say what perfume it is.
This picture portrays the Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie at the dressing table in her Hollywood mansion, 
On the far left side of the table there’s Guerlain Vol de Nuit in the trademark flacon rayonnant by Baccarat that looks like an airplane propeller; as a matter of fact, the perfume, created by Jacques Guerlain in 1933, was named after Antoine Saint Exupery’s 
There are two Bath & Body Works Color Drops nail polish bottles on the mantelpiece in Alice’s bedroom. I’m pretty sure the dark shade is 
Mary Mahler (Natalie Zea) uses Maybelline Great Lash 
The vintage glass bottle missing the spray nozzle is a Nina Ricci perfume. Impossible to say what it contains, since the same bottle was used for several fragrances.
Tania Legauff (Corinne Manchard) has a bottle of Lubin 
Lona (Sami Gayle) rarely uses make-up, but when she does, it’s MAC! On her desk we can see a 
