Girl With a Pearl Earring

Rating:
Summary: r e a l l y ssslllloooowwww
Review: This movie is about Scarlett Johanssen's mouth. Or maybe just her lips. Just in case you're not convinced, she gets to lick her lips not once, or twice, but three, maybe four times near the end of the movie. She doesn't get to say much - just a few lines. But she's in almost every scene - I mean her lips are in almost every scene. Most of the time there are just reaction shots, her reacting to almost nothing - mixing paint, watching Vermeer mix paint, etc etc. And she gives him a few tips on set arrangement. And the movie goes on, and on, and on, and on. And you want something to happen, but not much happens. And the cinematography is pretty good. Oh, and the costumes are pretty good.
And the money shot at the end of the picture is...the finished painting of the girl with the pearl earring. You may as well just drag out your poster of the picture and look at it and save two hours.
By the way I love Scarlett, and Vermeer - the movie just could have been a little livelier, that's all.

Rating:
Summary: lovely, quiet and atmospheric
Review: This is one of the best films I have ever seen that uses an art theme, here in a fictitious but plausible plot based on Tracy Chevalier's bestselling novel using one of Vermeer's most loved paintings as a central plot device.
The detail in the film is exceptional, from the exquisite light that reminds us of Vermeer's work, to the costumes and set design, the atmosphere of 17th century Delft, where one can almost smell the stench from the canal where all the refuse is dumped, to Griet's hands, which look as if they have scrubbed many a cold, tile floor.
Best of all is the mixing of the paint and glazes, done from stones, oils and many exotic materials, all in graceful containers.

After many cast and director shifts, the final roster that was chosen is superb, and fate must have waited for just the right mix of actors and director, for one cannot imagine it better. Scarlett Johansson is excellent in the almost mute part of Griet, and Colin Firth is a manly and terrific Vermeer. Especially good is Essie Davis as Vermeer's needy wife Catherina, who knows she will never become a part of her adored husband's world, a world she doesn't understand or inspire.
The melodic score by Alexandre Desplat, cinematography by the great Eduardo Serra, and directorial skills of Peter Webber all contribute to making this film a gem, one that as an artist I appreciate for its portrayal of Vermeer, and those glimpses into some of his rare (only 35 of his pieces are known) paintings, especially that enigmatic girl, wearing the now famous pearl earring.

DVD extras include a music video (not sure what the relevance to the film is, other than it has Johansson in it), and a Sundance Channel production of the making of the film, centering on the set design and its authenticity.
Total running time for the film is 100 minutes.


Rating:
Summary: Worth watching
Review: This movie was like watching a painting come to life and opened my eyes to 17th Century Dutch life which I knew very little about. It was refreshing to see a period piece reflecting life in a country that's relatively unexplored in many movies.
As usual Colin Firth delivers, and though I'm not a big fan of Scarlett Johannson, she surprised me in this film.
I'm not quite sure what the purpose of Cornelia was, besides being an unbearable brat. Maybe I'll read the book as well and find out more?


Rating:
Summary: A Classy Chick Flick and Good Intro to Vermeer
Review: A romanticized story with probably little truth to the plot. Nevertheless, Vermeer's famous painting, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is beautiful enough to create a hit movie, regardless of the plot. It's like having Greta Garbo come alive to star in a brand new version of "Anna Karenina". A film like that can't fail, and neither can a story about Vermeer's most famous portrait. In the painting, "Girl with a Pearl Earraing", an unknown young woman, probably a girl from Delft, Holland where Vermeer lived, sits for her portrait in a pose looking over her shoulder. Her head is wrapped in a stylish headdress. In the ear facing the painter she wears a beautiful pearl drop earring. Actually, this portrait is very stylish, even 400 years after it was first painted by world famous "Dutch Master", Johannes Vermeer, sometime between 1660-1665.
In the movie (adapted from the novel by Tracy Chevalier), the young servant girl, named Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is a maid in Vermeer's house. Actually, the Vermeer house is his mother-in-law's home in Delft, Holland. Vermeer lost the family's home he inherited due to bankruptcy. Also, Vermeer was born a Protestant but he converted to Catholicism before marrying his wife, Catharina (Essie Davis). Vermeer and Catharina and their dozen or so children moved in with mother-in-law, Maria Thins (Judy Parfitt) when they needed a place to live. At least this much of the movie's plot is reasonably accurate. Although Vermeer is known as a master painter today and his work is priceless, he was considered a tradesman during his lifetime. He was a man who painted pictures with no particular fan-fare.
In the film, Griet is serenely too beautiful for Vermeer and his sleazy patron Master van Ruijven (Tim Wilkinson) to resist. In movie publicist language, "beauty inspires obsession". Ahhh, a stretch, in my opinion. Truthfully, the movie is about the explosive tensions aroused when attractions cross social class. Vermeer was not supposed to paint a young servant girl while alone with her - especially if she's wearing his wife's pearl drop earrings. There's supposed to be something sexy about the necessary intimacy between a painter and subject. Who'd-a-thought the pretty girl in Vermeer's famous portrait, who was only trying to earn a meager living housecleaning, could create sexual attractions from nearly every person she meets while just doing her job? Vermeer is compelled to seek her out for the way she attracts light and how she dedicates herself to making him a better painter. Vermeer's seedy patron Raijven seems driven to own the painting for pornographic intentions. To find her own sexual release, poor Griet tries to maintain a smokescreen relationship with a local young butcher, a man who lives in her own social class and shares her Protestant religion. Secrecy and sexual tension drives Vermeer's selfish wife Catharina into uncontrolled jealous rage. Meanwhile, mother-in-law Thins tries to figure out how to keep her son-in-law employed. She needs Vermeer to earn a decent living while housing his tribe of spoiled kids and jealous wife (her daughter) under her roof. "Girl with a Pearl Earring" should be touted as an art appreciation soap opera. Vermeer's paintings became famous and priceless in the late 19th century, over 200 years after he died in 1675. "Girl With A Pearl Earring" movie (DVD) and book undoubtedly adds even more value to this already priceless work of art.



Rating:
Summary: Simply a Little Masterpiece
Review: Once every few years a movie comes along that speaks directly to our souls. The Girl with the Pearl Earring is one of those movies. Director Peter Webber transports us back to 17th century Holland, into the family of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth), where the desperate need for commissions from their patron (Tom Wilkinson) exposes emotions and conflicts that the unwilling family members would rather keep deeply hidden. When a new maid (Scarlett Johansson) arrives, jealously, possession and control spin the family out of control, while simultaneously prying open the clams of our subconscious, exposing our deepest fears -- the pearls we too secretly try to keep deeply hidden. Like all great directors, Webber tells us nothing, but with wonderful dialogue and photography exposes us to a fascinating world of art and dependence.

Rating:
Summary: HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE THIS FILM?
Review: Hats off to the director and cinematographer who managed to make nearly every frame of GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING look like a painting by Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth), the artist subject of the movie who seems trapped in a world of patronage and marital relations. While fortunate, in the seventeenth century, to enjoy a relatively comfortable life selling his paintings to a lecherous patron, Vermeer seems imprisoned in his attic studio. And then along comes Griet (Scarlett Johansson) who, as a nubile maid, enters the Vermeer household and discovers talents for composition and color and thus attracts the eye of the genius painter Vermeer who may be bored with his beautiful but shallow and spoiled upper class wife. One is struck by how great Vermeer's talent was and yet how under appreciated he must have been if the film's making him so dependent on a single patron is historically accurate. Vermeer's ability to capture light and color is reflected in the scenes of the film which show us Dutch life at home or marketplace in the 1600's about as realistic as you can get without having actors squatting over chamber pots. With all the hard manual work (no washing machines), it makes the movie-goer glad we didn't live four centuries ago. While there isn't much plot to THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING and things move slowly in the film, the visual beauty of the film lingers and touches the viewer, especially the beauty of Scarlett Johansson. I didn't detect a false step in the script or the direction of THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING. How can you not like this film? Bravo! Five pearl earrings for this one.