The Girl with the Pearl Earring (2003)
This film is a speculative tale on the origin of the famous
Johannes Vermeer painting. The story centers on the young Puritan
woman Griet (Scarlett Johansson), whose family's financial woes
compel her to take a job as a servant in the Vermeer household.
Timid by nature, and reticent about living with Catholics, Griet
is further unnerved by the towering, brooding figure of Johannes
Vermeer (Colin Firth) himself-a man of few words and intense
moods whom few dare to cross.
Ultimately, Vermeer warms up to this young woman, whose appreciation
and understanding of his work touches a lonely void in the painter's
heart (for his own wife has never understood her husband's creative
soul). Naturally, Griet is soon the object of unkind regard from
the rest of the Vermeer family but ultimately consents to model
for the artist, becoming the "Girl with a pearl earring."
Although largely fictional, this is an intriguing idea, but director
Peter Webber's approach to the material is just too understated.
Perhaps he was trying to avoid the bawdy Shakespeare in Love
approach, but he leans too far in the other direction. The result
is a sedate, at times almost catatonic film. Griet is also so
waifish and anemic a character that it is hard for the viewer
to really embrace her. Vermeer himself is the most interesting
character, but the film never probes very deeply into his character
nor explores what really made this great man tick.
Where this film best succeeds is in its depiction of the period
itself, and the recreation of the images which inspired Vermeer's
work. Director Webber and lighting cameraman Eduardo Serra gorgeously
replicate the settings and distinctive use of light that Vermeer
so brilliantly captured, and there are moments in this film when
his work seems to come alive right there on celluloid. In addition,
there are many small moments and details which speak volumes
about life in 17th-century Holland, and in particular the methods
by which Vermeer and his contemporaries painted are shown in
vivid, accurate detail.
While The Girl with the Pearl Earring is an interesting
film, its tone is just too aloof and passionless to ever involve
the viewer emotionally. It is atmospheric, visually attractive,
and admirable in its depiction of the period, but when all has
been said and done, the storytelling is too shallow to be satisfying.
Paul Andrew MacLean
© 2004
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