They are not aware that their desire is caused by the essence/odour which has nothing to do with the person as such. Since Grenouille can bypass the person and directly target the object-cause of desire, he can avoid this illusion - this is why eroticism is for him a ridiculous game of lures. The price he pays for it, however, is that he cannot ever accept the inverse illusion that someone loves him: he is always aware that it is not him but his perfume that makes people adore him

SLAVOJ ZIZEK on the film The Perfume http://ift.tt/2o034zO