Girl With A Pearl Earring Essay
Sumptuous set design, painstaking cinematography and thoughtful, understated performances make ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’ an aesthetic masterpiece – but dear God is it dull.
It’s based on the best-selling novel by Tracy Chevalier but, more significantly than that, the book itself tells the story behind a painting by brush-brandishing Dutchman Johannes Vermeer. And not a very interesting story either, it has to be said.
Rent-a-thesp Colin Firth plays Vermeer, who takes a break from the clogs, windmills and whore-patrolled waterways of 17th Century Holland to paint humble housemaid Griet (a perfectly-cast Scarlett Johansson, of Lost In Translation fame). You wouldn’t think there’d be many problems with that – only Vermeer’s missus Catharina …show more content…
(Essie Davis) doesn’t quite see things that way. In short, she thinks the pair of them are at it, and we can rest assured the gouache is going to hit the fan when she finally decides to put her foot down.
Not much happens in ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’. There’s lots of sneaking around, lots of gazing longingly in the direction of nothing in particular, and the unintentionally-comical sight of Cillian (28 Days Later) Murphy going about dressed as what appears to be a little pixie.
What it basically boils down to is that the plot has neither the depth nor the interest to match the production values. It could even be said that the film is much like the painting itself – impressive to look at for a little while, but you wouldn’t want to spend an hour-and-a-half staring at it. Especially when School Of Rock is playing in the roomThe Girl with a Pearl Earring
An In-Depth Study by Jonathan Janson
The Girl with a Pearl Earring is universally recognized as one of Johannes Vermeer's absolute masterworks. After more than a century of study, the work still poses significant questions. Who was the sitter and was the painting even intended as a portrait? Why had it remained in complete obscurity until it was rediscovered in 1882 and sold for the price of a reproduction? Was it a part of a pendant? Did Vermeer sell the painting during his lifetime? Why was the original background a deep transparent green rather than the black we see today? Was the pearl a real one? What significance did the turban have? Which painting procedures did Vermeer employ? Which pigments did he use? next door.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 drama film directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was adapted by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier. The film starsScarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson and Cillian Murphy. The film is named after a painting of the same name by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The film uses a bright color scheme as in Vermeer's paintings.
[pic]
Vermeer's original painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring from 1665
Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is a young woman living in the Netherlands in the 1660s. Her father, aceramic painter, has recently gone blind, rendering him unable to work and putting his family in dire straits. Griet is subsequently sent to work as a maidin the home of the painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth).
In the course of their interactions as master and servant, Vermeer and Griet become casually acquainted and he learns of her interest in painting and her knowledge of color and artistic composition. Vermeer subsequently begins giving her lessons in mixing paints and other tasks, taking care to keep their meetings secret from his wife Catharina (Essie Davis), who would react very negatively if she found out that Griet and Vermeer were spending so much time together. In contrast, Vermeer's pragmatic mother-in-law (Judy Parfitt) sees Griet as a catalyzing and stabilizing force in Vermeer's career. On a routine trip outside the house, Griet also befriends a young man named Pieter (Cillian Murphy), the Vermeers' butcher's son, who is quickly taken with her, though she is slow to return his affections. Vermeer's patron Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) sees Griet on a visit to the Vermeer household and asks the painter if he will give her up to him to work in his own house. When Vermeer refuses, Van Ruijvencommissions him to paint a portrait of Griet for him. Vermeer accepts the commission, both to remain in Van Ruijven's good graces and because of his own fascination with Griet. As Vermeer secretly works on the eponymous painting, he and Griet grow closer. While Griet suffers through her fascination with Vermeer and his paintings, she also has to fend off Van Ruijven's attempt to rape her (which is thwarted when Catharina calls for Griet). Soon afterward, Catharina's mother summons Griet and informs her that Catharina is to be away for the day, then hands over her daughter's pearl earrings and instructs Griet to finish the painting today. After the final painting session in which Vermeer pierces Griet's earlobe so she can wear one of his wife's pearl earrings for the portrait, Griet returns the earrings to Catharina's mother and runs to Pieter to be consoled.
Catharina's growing jealousy of Griet becomes more and more apparent, and she finally discovers the theft of her earrings, accusing her mother of complicity and ordering Vermeer to show her the painting he and Griet have been working on. Heartbroken that Vermeer does not consider her worthy of being painted because she "doesn't understand," Catharine in a fit of rage tries to destroy the painting, but fails. Catharina then banishes Griet from the house forever. Vermeer does not object, and Griet leaves the house in shock. Later, she is visited by one of her friends from the house, who comes bearing a gift: a sealed packet containing the blue scarf she wore in the painting, which is wrapped around Catharina's pearl earrings.
Girl With a Pearl Earring Movie Preview
With two films opening this week, Scarlett Johansson, star of Girl With A Pearl Earring, looks set to build on the promise shown in a number of eye-catching roles of recent times by maturing into a powerful leading actress. One week into January and she is already one of the faces of 2004; her porcelain features poking out from billboard posters and magazine covers everywhere, her intelligent thoughts leaping off the pages within.
This precocious talent is by far the best thing about Girl With A Pearl Earring; one half of Johansson’s frontal assault on our screens this new year, the other being Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation which opened on January 9th. In this tale of desire and obsession she is the unattainable artists’ muse made flesh; drifting elegantly through the dark parlours of 17th century Holland like the Virgin Mary descended into a Rembrandt painting.
Based on Tracy Chevalier’s novel of the same name, Girl With A Pearl Earring uses an accurate historical template to draw a complex fictional account of restrained passion. Set in 17th century Delft, Holland in the studio of artist Jan Vermeer, Johansson’s Griet is the daughter of a Protestant artisan who has fallen on hard times. She is sent out to earn a living as a servant, work that her soft hands at first find difficult, in Vermeer’s household and soon becomes the catalyst that causes the delicate social balance within to unravel. At first intrigued by the unusualness of the painter’s studio, Griet soon finds herself apprentice, confessor and most coveted object in the great artists’ affections as the two build a relationship that threatens Vermeer’s personal and professional life.
A bond forged in mutual fascination and shared interest becomes utterly intertwined with the artist’s creative process. As much as Griet is Vermeer’s muse and the enigmatic subject of the painting that lends the film it’s title, she is his assistant, on hand more often than is reasonably expected to help the painter work. In a number of intimate scenes their union is revealed to be as enigmatic as the expression on the face of the girl in the eponymous painting (dubbed “the Mona Lisa of the northern masters”, not without good reason) and the suggestion of love that can never be fully expressed emerges. Routine aspects of the painter’s preparation suddenly take on a riveting new significance and illicit feelings are betrayed in the most banal of tasks.
With so little occurring on the surface, Girl With A Pearl Earring utilises a strong dose of subtext to maintain a tangible sense of anticipation. This asphyxiating tension manages to immerse the viewer into the story totally. Voyeuristically, the audience is led through cramped, chiaroscuro interiors that, through knowledgeable set design, take in the entire wealth of 17th century Dutch painting. These spaces barely contain a gang of large personalities; all with malevolent designs on Griet, who in contrast appears as pure as white paint freshly squeezed from the tube. An assembly of opposition, personified in the people who orbit Vermeer’s world like satellites without ever managing to land on it, are gathered together to carry the film’s complex range of themes (from jealousy and obsession to the relationship between art and money) with some distinction. Tom Wilkinson plays the sinister merchant Van Ruijven, Vermeer’s patron who covets his work above all others, with just the right mix of charm and malice. Judy Parfitt is the painter’s domineering mother in law from hell Maria, who constantly harasses Vermeer into creating another masterpiece in order to keep the entire household in clogs and Edam. Essie Davis, as the painters’ conceited wife Catherina, finds it unimaginable that he would want to paint a servant in such a vivacious and suggestive light. Her unanswered pleas of: “Why won’t you paint me?!”, occurring in the film’s climactic scene only serve to heighten the feeling that everyone’s prayers ultimately go unanswered.
Girl With A Pearl Earring sloughs itself of the conventional trappings associated with the period drama, and it’s so much more watchable as a result.
The over-elaborate scale and ritualistic (sometimes anachronistic) motivations that tend to swamp this genre, and the characters contained therein, is reduced to reveal an effective and moving tale. In preferring to concentrate on a small number of emblematic themes, carried through strong performances, the film succeeds in resonating it’s meaning throughout the ages. A contemporary score and Eduardo Serra’s sublime photography further enhance the film’s vitality.
Girl With A Pearl Earring may not hold everyone’s attention. The stifled passion that runs throughout the narrative may prove a little frustrating at times and Colin Firth overplaying the tortured genius undermines some fantastic performances, but if you’re looking for something that runs deeper than your average costume drama in both it’s scope and it’s execution then stop and stare at this for a while, you may be surprised at what reveals itself.
Girl with a Pearl Earring - Review
The Movie Based On a Book Based On a Painting
About.com Rating2.5 Star Rating
Be the first to write a review
From Jürgen
Fauth
See More About:
• literary adaptations • scarlett johansson • ghost world • colin firth
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth in "Girl With A Pearl Earring."
FilmFilm Movie ProjectorBest Independent FilmWatch Movie TrailerMovie Review
Scarlett Johansson got her big break impersonating a drawing in Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World," and now she's hoping to woo the mid-brow crowd playing a painting. Just when you thought movies based on video games were as derivative as it could get, along comes "Girl With a Pearl Earring": director Peter Webber adapts a novel by Tracy Chevalier based on the title-giving oil-on-canvas by Johannes Vermeer.
And so we find ourselves in Holland in 1665: canals and open markets, scruffy children and those strange white caps that hide the women's hair and seem like they belong on nuns. Griet (Johansson) is wearing one of them, and that's a shame because after all, wasn't it Gwyneth Paltrow's shining hair that made the similar period romance of creativity "Shakespeare in Love" such a success?
But Griet has to keep her hair under that cap because she's a maid, poor and downcast, beginning work at the Vermeer house when the film opens. Like Cinderella, she scours pans and silently takes abuse from the bratty children. Only occasionally, she has a good time with the butcher boy. When Vermeer, played by Colin Firth with daring Aragorn haircut, takes an interest in her, she begins to spend more and more time in his studio, where she finally sits for the painting in question.
Predictably, the art design and cinematography take their cues from Vermeer. The painterly compositions, period costumes, and mild light falling through thick glass windows look splendid. In its best moments, "Girl With a Pearl Earring" clue us in to the sense of the wonder that painting held in a world that wasn't awash in images. Yet I am reminded of the scene in "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" where Bugs and Daffy are being chased through the Louvre and run through famous paintings, adapting their look--except that "Girl With a Pearl Earring" isn't nearly as funny, or as exciting.
As good as Webber is with the images, the film aches for drama. The story behind the painting isn't all that thrilling. The tensions in the Vermeer house are interesting at first, but they lead up to a disappointing climax. Griet is never given a chance to act out, or even to speak out. "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" ends with a whimper, never having figured out how to let its hair down.
It’s based on the best-selling novel by Tracy Chevalier but, more significantly than that, the book itself tells the story behind a painting by brush-brandishing Dutchman Johannes Vermeer. And not a very interesting story either, it has to be said.
Rent-a-thesp Colin Firth plays Vermeer, who takes a break from the clogs, windmills and whore-patrolled waterways of 17th Century Holland to paint humble housemaid Griet (a perfectly-cast Scarlett Johansson, of Lost In Translation fame). You wouldn’t think there’d be many problems with that – only Vermeer’s missus Catharina …show more content…
(Essie Davis) doesn’t quite see things that way. In short, she thinks the pair of them are at it, and we can rest assured the gouache is going to hit the fan when she finally decides to put her foot down.
Not much happens in ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’. There’s lots of sneaking around, lots of gazing longingly in the direction of nothing in particular, and the unintentionally-comical sight of Cillian (28 Days Later) Murphy going about dressed as what appears to be a little pixie.
What it basically boils down to is that the plot has neither the depth nor the interest to match the production values. It could even be said that the film is much like the painting itself – impressive to look at for a little while, but you wouldn’t want to spend an hour-and-a-half staring at it. Especially when School Of Rock is playing in the roomThe Girl with a Pearl Earring
An In-Depth Study by Jonathan Janson
The Girl with a Pearl Earring is universally recognized as one of Johannes Vermeer's absolute masterworks. After more than a century of study, the work still poses significant questions. Who was the sitter and was the painting even intended as a portrait? Why had it remained in complete obscurity until it was rediscovered in 1882 and sold for the price of a reproduction? Was it a part of a pendant? Did Vermeer sell the painting during his lifetime? Why was the original background a deep transparent green rather than the black we see today? Was the pearl a real one? What significance did the turban have? Which painting procedures did Vermeer employ? Which pigments did he use? next door.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 drama film directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was adapted by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier. The film starsScarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson and Cillian Murphy. The film is named after a painting of the same name by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The film uses a bright color scheme as in Vermeer's paintings.
[pic]
Vermeer's original painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring from 1665
Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is a young woman living in the Netherlands in the 1660s. Her father, aceramic painter, has recently gone blind, rendering him unable to work and putting his family in dire straits. Griet is subsequently sent to work as a maidin the home of the painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth).
In the course of their interactions as master and servant, Vermeer and Griet become casually acquainted and he learns of her interest in painting and her knowledge of color and artistic composition. Vermeer subsequently begins giving her lessons in mixing paints and other tasks, taking care to keep their meetings secret from his wife Catharina (Essie Davis), who would react very negatively if she found out that Griet and Vermeer were spending so much time together. In contrast, Vermeer's pragmatic mother-in-law (Judy Parfitt) sees Griet as a catalyzing and stabilizing force in Vermeer's career. On a routine trip outside the house, Griet also befriends a young man named Pieter (Cillian Murphy), the Vermeers' butcher's son, who is quickly taken with her, though she is slow to return his affections. Vermeer's patron Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) sees Griet on a visit to the Vermeer household and asks the painter if he will give her up to him to work in his own house. When Vermeer refuses, Van Ruijvencommissions him to paint a portrait of Griet for him. Vermeer accepts the commission, both to remain in Van Ruijven's good graces and because of his own fascination with Griet. As Vermeer secretly works on the eponymous painting, he and Griet grow closer. While Griet suffers through her fascination with Vermeer and his paintings, she also has to fend off Van Ruijven's attempt to rape her (which is thwarted when Catharina calls for Griet). Soon afterward, Catharina's mother summons Griet and informs her that Catharina is to be away for the day, then hands over her daughter's pearl earrings and instructs Griet to finish the painting today. After the final painting session in which Vermeer pierces Griet's earlobe so she can wear one of his wife's pearl earrings for the portrait, Griet returns the earrings to Catharina's mother and runs to Pieter to be consoled.
Catharina's growing jealousy of Griet becomes more and more apparent, and she finally discovers the theft of her earrings, accusing her mother of complicity and ordering Vermeer to show her the painting he and Griet have been working on. Heartbroken that Vermeer does not consider her worthy of being painted because she "doesn't understand," Catharine in a fit of rage tries to destroy the painting, but fails. Catharina then banishes Griet from the house forever. Vermeer does not object, and Griet leaves the house in shock. Later, she is visited by one of her friends from the house, who comes bearing a gift: a sealed packet containing the blue scarf she wore in the painting, which is wrapped around Catharina's pearl earrings.
Girl With a Pearl Earring Movie Preview
With two films opening this week, Scarlett Johansson, star of Girl With A Pearl Earring, looks set to build on the promise shown in a number of eye-catching roles of recent times by maturing into a powerful leading actress. One week into January and she is already one of the faces of 2004; her porcelain features poking out from billboard posters and magazine covers everywhere, her intelligent thoughts leaping off the pages within.
This precocious talent is by far the best thing about Girl With A Pearl Earring; one half of Johansson’s frontal assault on our screens this new year, the other being Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation which opened on January 9th. In this tale of desire and obsession she is the unattainable artists’ muse made flesh; drifting elegantly through the dark parlours of 17th century Holland like the Virgin Mary descended into a Rembrandt painting.
Based on Tracy Chevalier’s novel of the same name, Girl With A Pearl Earring uses an accurate historical template to draw a complex fictional account of restrained passion. Set in 17th century Delft, Holland in the studio of artist Jan Vermeer, Johansson’s Griet is the daughter of a Protestant artisan who has fallen on hard times. She is sent out to earn a living as a servant, work that her soft hands at first find difficult, in Vermeer’s household and soon becomes the catalyst that causes the delicate social balance within to unravel. At first intrigued by the unusualness of the painter’s studio, Griet soon finds herself apprentice, confessor and most coveted object in the great artists’ affections as the two build a relationship that threatens Vermeer’s personal and professional life.
A bond forged in mutual fascination and shared interest becomes utterly intertwined with the artist’s creative process. As much as Griet is Vermeer’s muse and the enigmatic subject of the painting that lends the film it’s title, she is his assistant, on hand more often than is reasonably expected to help the painter work. In a number of intimate scenes their union is revealed to be as enigmatic as the expression on the face of the girl in the eponymous painting (dubbed “the Mona Lisa of the northern masters”, not without good reason) and the suggestion of love that can never be fully expressed emerges. Routine aspects of the painter’s preparation suddenly take on a riveting new significance and illicit feelings are betrayed in the most banal of tasks.
With so little occurring on the surface, Girl With A Pearl Earring utilises a strong dose of subtext to maintain a tangible sense of anticipation. This asphyxiating tension manages to immerse the viewer into the story totally. Voyeuristically, the audience is led through cramped, chiaroscuro interiors that, through knowledgeable set design, take in the entire wealth of 17th century Dutch painting. These spaces barely contain a gang of large personalities; all with malevolent designs on Griet, who in contrast appears as pure as white paint freshly squeezed from the tube. An assembly of opposition, personified in the people who orbit Vermeer’s world like satellites without ever managing to land on it, are gathered together to carry the film’s complex range of themes (from jealousy and obsession to the relationship between art and money) with some distinction. Tom Wilkinson plays the sinister merchant Van Ruijven, Vermeer’s patron who covets his work above all others, with just the right mix of charm and malice. Judy Parfitt is the painter’s domineering mother in law from hell Maria, who constantly harasses Vermeer into creating another masterpiece in order to keep the entire household in clogs and Edam. Essie Davis, as the painters’ conceited wife Catherina, finds it unimaginable that he would want to paint a servant in such a vivacious and suggestive light. Her unanswered pleas of: “Why won’t you paint me?!”, occurring in the film’s climactic scene only serve to heighten the feeling that everyone’s prayers ultimately go unanswered.
Girl With A Pearl Earring sloughs itself of the conventional trappings associated with the period drama, and it’s so much more watchable as a result.
The over-elaborate scale and ritualistic (sometimes anachronistic) motivations that tend to swamp this genre, and the characters contained therein, is reduced to reveal an effective and moving tale. In preferring to concentrate on a small number of emblematic themes, carried through strong performances, the film succeeds in resonating it’s meaning throughout the ages. A contemporary score and Eduardo Serra’s sublime photography further enhance the film’s vitality.
Girl With A Pearl Earring may not hold everyone’s attention. The stifled passion that runs throughout the narrative may prove a little frustrating at times and Colin Firth overplaying the tortured genius undermines some fantastic performances, but if you’re looking for something that runs deeper than your average costume drama in both it’s scope and it’s execution then stop and stare at this for a while, you may be surprised at what reveals itself.
Girl with a Pearl Earring - Review
The Movie Based On a Book Based On a Painting
About.com Rating2.5 Star Rating
Be the first to write a review
From Jürgen
Fauth
See More About:
• literary adaptations • scarlett johansson • ghost world • colin firth
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth in "Girl With A Pearl Earring."
FilmFilm Movie ProjectorBest Independent FilmWatch Movie TrailerMovie Review
Scarlett Johansson got her big break impersonating a drawing in Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World," and now she's hoping to woo the mid-brow crowd playing a painting. Just when you thought movies based on video games were as derivative as it could get, along comes "Girl With a Pearl Earring": director Peter Webber adapts a novel by Tracy Chevalier based on the title-giving oil-on-canvas by Johannes Vermeer.
And so we find ourselves in Holland in 1665: canals and open markets, scruffy children and those strange white caps that hide the women's hair and seem like they belong on nuns. Griet (Johansson) is wearing one of them, and that's a shame because after all, wasn't it Gwyneth Paltrow's shining hair that made the similar period romance of creativity "Shakespeare in Love" such a success?
But Griet has to keep her hair under that cap because she's a maid, poor and downcast, beginning work at the Vermeer house when the film opens. Like Cinderella, she scours pans and silently takes abuse from the bratty children. Only occasionally, she has a good time with the butcher boy. When Vermeer, played by Colin Firth with daring Aragorn haircut, takes an interest in her, she begins to spend more and more time in his studio, where she finally sits for the painting in question.
Predictably, the art design and cinematography take their cues from Vermeer. The painterly compositions, period costumes, and mild light falling through thick glass windows look splendid. In its best moments, "Girl With a Pearl Earring" clue us in to the sense of the wonder that painting held in a world that wasn't awash in images. Yet I am reminded of the scene in "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" where Bugs and Daffy are being chased through the Louvre and run through famous paintings, adapting their look--except that "Girl With a Pearl Earring" isn't nearly as funny, or as exciting.
As good as Webber is with the images, the film aches for drama. The story behind the painting isn't all that thrilling. The tensions in the Vermeer house are interesting at first, but they lead up to a disappointing climax. Griet is never given a chance to act out, or even to speak out. "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" ends with a whimper, never having figured out how to let its hair down.