My reaction to the crowd at the execution was that I was caught off guard. Reading the book was interesting enough but after watching the movie I think I grasped it a little better. I think at that point he wanted to feel something. After killing all those girls and finally succeeding in getting the last one that he so deeply desired I think he wanted to feel that desire as well. What I am not sure of and maybe someone can explain or give me their thoughts of why he decided to use the perfume to control the crowd? Once he realized he had no scent I think that drove him a bit mad. When he had his collection of oils to make this final perfume was he trying to use it so that he had a scent and could perhaps feel love? It wasn't till towards the end that I feel that he was realizing that perhaps he could have had the scent of the girl for a longer time than a perfume that could be used up if he chose or learned to love another human being instead of murdering them for a scent that would not last.
I thought that he was going to be executed. I did not expect the ending of the book nor movie to end the way it did. I wanted to have sympathy for him in a way, the way he was born and his talent for smells. Perhaps if his mentor would have been alive longer he could have steered him a different direction and taught him more and perhaps his life would have gone a different route.