The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Godard arrived in 2024 as part of Parfums Karmic Hues' Cinema d'arts collection. The fragrance pays homage to Jean-Luc Godard's iconoclastic cinema: his habit of challenging convention and embracing spontaneity. Srivathsa Subramanian Sivakumar, the house's perfumer and creative guide, translated that restless sensibility into a composition built from contrasts. Bergamot and lemon bring the clean snap of daylight. Metallic notes add a cool, reflective edge. Saffron, black tea, Spanish jasmine, and sandalwood give the scent its warmer, more human center. Together, the notes create a fragrance that moves between brightness and depth, with citrus and metal meeting spice, tea, floral softness, and smooth wood.
The interesting part isn't any single note. It's the handoff between them. Citrus and metallic notes create an almost filmic brightness, like a hard cut between scenes. Saffron brings a dry heat, while black tea lends tannic depth and a little intellectual tension. Spanish jasmine softens the structure without making it overtly pretty. Sandalwood then holds the composition together with a smooth, woody gravity. The result feels constructed and spontaneous at once, which is exactly the contradiction that makes the Cinema d'arts reference feel more than decorative.
The evolution
The opening starts with a clean, reflective snap: bergamot and lemon flash brightly, with metallic notes giving the brightness a cool, almost silvered edge. That first impression feels immediate and cinematic, but it doesn't stay there. Saffron introduces a dry warmth, and black tea adds a darker, tannic counterpoint. Spanish jasmine then brings a soft floral note into the middle, creating a slightly unexpected meeting of citrus, spice, metal, and white flower. As the composition settles, sandalwood takes over as the most persistent material, smoothing the sharper edges without erasing them. Over time, the opening citrus gradually gives way to warmer spice, tea, and wood. The floral heart remains soft but distinct, while the metallic thread lingers beneath the richer notes. The final impression is woody, aromatic, and gently floral, with a cool gleam still hovering in the background.
Cultural impact
Godard sits within Parfums Karmic Hues' Cinema d'arts collection, drawing on the restless spirit of Jean-Luc Godard's iconoclastic cinema. The fragrance reflects that sensibility through contrasts: bright bergamot and lemon meet cool metallic notes, while saffron, black tea, Spanish jasmine, and sandalwood build a warmer center. Its film reference gives the composition an invitation to explore scent alongside cinema, with every layer moving between crisp light and grounded wood.
The House
Parfums Karmic HuesParfums Karmic Hues is an independent artisanal perfume house founded in 2020 by Gagen and perfumer Srivathsa Subramanian Sivakumar, commonly known as S3, in New Jersey, USA. The house operates on a small-batch handmade model, creating fragrances that explore themes of memory, emotion, and cultural narrative. Their catalog draws from diverse source material, including Japanese cinema (Rashomon Volume I and II, 2022), Indian deities and mythology (Mātangi, Parvathā, Mahodara, all 2021), and American landscapes and characters (Chicago Poet, Steel Scarlet, Cheyenne, all 2023). The brand gained notable industry attention when Luca Turin, the influential fragrance critic and author, reviewed three of their fragrances. Karmic Hues maintains an approach where each scent serves as a meditation on a specific concept, moment, or cultural reference point, rather than following seasonal trends or conventional market categories.
The Creator
Srivathsa Subramanian SivakumarSrivathsa gravitates toward clean, well-structured compositions that reveal their character gradually. His work tends toward thoughtful blending rather than bold statements, with attention to how top, heart, and base notes unfold in sequence.
