Starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson and Judy
Parfitt.
Directed by Peter Webber.
***1/2 (out of 4).
There are some paintings that intrigue us, making us wonder about how
those paintings were created. For example, whenever I look at the
'Broken Pitcher' by Adolphe-William Bouguereau at the Palace of Legion
of Honor at San Francisco, I wonder what the girl who modelled for the
painting would have thought about it. Did she even know about what
Bouguereau was implying with his art? Was she even aware of the sexual
implication? How did she get such a look on her face? What did she do
after the sitting?
'Girl with a Pearl Earring' is a famous piece by Johannes Vermeer, a
seventeenth century Dutch artist, who was one of the big painters
during the Golden age of Dutch paintings. This was the era of Rembrant
and Terborch. This film is an adaptation of a novel by the same name,
and it describes the turn of events that resulted in this work being
painted. The events are fictional, but they lend a lot of insight into
the life of Vermeer, the social setup at those times and into art
itself.
The story itself is straightforward. Griet (Scarlett Johansson) comes
to work at the Vermeer (Colin Firth) household. Griet is a poor, quiet
young girl who has an eye for appreciating art. She finds herself
working at a house which is run by Vermeer's crafty mother-in-law.
Vermeer is a mercurial painter, one who struggles to find himself
under the domination of his mother-in-law and the growing pressure on
earning an income to keep the struggling and ever growing (Vermeer's
wife is forever pregnant) household.
Painters in those days live on commissions from rich patrons. The
patron in question here, Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) threatens to cut
off his commission to Vermeer; Until he sees the demure Griet. Taken
in by Griet's beauty, he tries to get his way and take her for
himself. Meanwhile, a taboo relationship develops between Griet and
Vermeer. The relationship is sensual, but based on the keen eye for
art that both of them share. In a bustling household with children and
growing financial demands, the two souls come close together. The film
walks on razor's edge here. It is careful enough not to define the
relationship in black and white; No social norms are broken; Griet and
Vermeer stay true to their characters and do not come out of their
respective social circles (Griet fulfills her passion with a local
butcher boy instead).
Vermeer, bowing to pressures from his mother-in-law and his patron Van
Ruijven, agrees to paint Griet, for his patron's private collection.
What follows is a wonderful portrayal of how a painting is done and
what the artist goes through in his quest. When Vermeer asks Griet to
moisten her lips again and again, one gets an idea on how much effort
has gone into thinking the painting through; It is not a moment of
inspiration, but a journey of meditative quest; For Vermeer, the quest
takes him to making Griet wear the Pearl Earring.
Looking at the painting itself, we would find it odd that she is
wearing the pearl earring. Yet, looking close enough, we may realize
that the girl herself is like a pearl, looking at us with an sensual
intensity that arrests us immediately. The film suggests that the
intensity is due to her unstated closeness with her painter. The story
is only as suggestive as the painting itself.
The film is really a test for its art director; The art direction is
simply superb; To recreate the light and look and feel of the Vermeer
studio itself must have been a gargantuan task. The art directors get
the studio just right. The first scene when Griet opens each window to
let the light in, illuminates the studio, making it a perfect picture
postcard.
The movie could have easily veered off into exploring the class divide
(one that Robert Altman's Gosford Park did wonderfully) or into the
machinations of the mother-in-law and her effect on the painter. It
carefully avoids such traps and ends up telling a simple story, the
one about art.
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth share just enough on-screen
chemistry to make it work. Tom Wilkinson, who was brilliant in In The
Bedroom, doesn't seem to be comfortable with his role here. Judy
Parfitt as the mother-in-law could have done the role in her sleep;
She is as good as it gets.
In any other year, Girl with a Pearl Earring would have won the oscar
for set decoration, but 2003 was the year of LotR. The film deserves
more notice that it got, and hopefully, more people will discover it
for themselves in DVD.
- Balaji (bb).
http://balaji.yi.org/blog/
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38698 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1323478 X-RT-TitleID: 1128236 X-RT-AuthorID: 3879 X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews