Product Details

• Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt, Cillian Murphy
• Directors: Peter Webber
• Writers: Olivia Hetreed, Tracy Chevalier
• Producers: Anand Tucker, Andy Paterson, Anna Campeau, Bob Bellion, Cameron McCracken
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Lions Gate
• VHS Release Date: May 4, 2004
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (235 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001WTV4S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,798 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth, Bridget Jones' Diary, Fever Pitch), who finds herself in a web of jealousy, artistic inspiration, and social machinations. Though the pace is slow, Girl with a Pearl Earring genuinely conveys some sense of an artist's process, as well as offering many chaste yet sensual moments between Firth and Johansson. Also featuring Essie Davis as Vermeer's bitter wife and Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom) as a wealthy patron with eyes for Griet. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

A slow, attentive movie about a painter and his model demands the kind of patience that moviegoers, especially in this hectic season, may feel reluctant to supply. But Peter Webber's reworking of Tracy Chevalier's novel is worth staying with: it casts a heavy spell as it unfolds the tale of Griet (Scarlett Johansson), a maid newly arrived in the house of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). The year is 1665, and the period reconstruction, for those who are aroused by such things, is-apart from a few modern lines of dialogue-formidably detailed. The danger with such beautifying efforts is that cinema will turn into a branch of taxidermy, and what keeps Webber's movie alive is the tenseness of the setup (will this girl stay in the artist's household, and, if so, will she become his lover or his muse?), and, above all, the presence of Johansson. She is often wordless and close to plain onscreen, but wait for the ardor with which she can summon a closeup and bloom under its gaze; this is her film, not Vermeer's, all the way.-A.L. (12/15/03) -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

182 of 191 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than most films out there, but not perfect, February 19, 2004

By 

Noelle Eiram (United States) - See all my reviews

The shimmering city of Delft leaps from the pages of Tracy Chevalier's delicately descriptive novel onto the screen in the film 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'. 17th century Holland is recreated with breathtaking splendor. From the folds of the dresses to the attitudes of the day, the film stays in character and does not add Hollywood gimmicks to modernize the tale. Servants are servile and illiterate, though not necessarily unintelligent. The titular teenage maid does not have an insolent attitude.

Scarlett Johansson plays the young Griet, the daughter of a former tile painter who is sent across town to serve the Vermeer household. Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth), a painter, is drawn to Griet's quiet loveliness. Though few words pass between them, their mutual eye for aesthetics develops into strong attraction and deep appreciation. Her pure complexion also attracts Vermeer's vulgar patron, Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) and the young butcher Pieter (Cillian Murphy).

Each frame is a painting within itself, supported by a charming score (though some have called the music obnoxious). Though every scene is beautiful, Griet's position is not romanticized; her arduous labor is evident throughout the movie. Instead of altering the story to conform to a 95 minute film, sections of the story are simply deleted or unexplained. Particularly the character of Tanneke is underdeveloped, compared to the book character.

The acting is dramatic yet understated. Expressions are affectively portrayed without losing subtlety. Johansson expressively displays the young, almost timid side of Griet. Colin Firth is an attractive Vermeer; he has natural and exciting reactions. Tom Wilkinson is surprisingly low key as Van Ruijven, compared to the character in the novel; however, he still manages to be repulsive. Essie Davis's performance is also a standout as Vermeer's insecure wife, Catharina.

'Girl With a Pearl Earring' establishes its setting in an unforgettable light, and the story has enough magic to satisfy the patient viewer. Might I add that Cillian Murphy is beautiful.

149 of 157 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives new dimension to the term "art film", December 3, 2003

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Hanging in the Royal Cabinet of Paintings in The Hague is a 17 1/2 by 15 3/8 inch oil on canvas by Johannes Vermeer, "Girl with a Pearl Earring". Perhaps you've seen it, either the original or a reproduction. Against a dark background, it depicts a young girl, wearing a blue turban from which falls a yellow scarf, gazing over her left shoulder towards the viewer. From her visible ear dangles a large, tear-drop shaped, pearl earring. The painting is exquisite.

There are a couple of questions still surrounding the work. Are the pearls real? Who was the model? Vermeer's oldest daughter, Maria? Or perhaps Magdalena, the daughter of Vermeer's principal patron, Pieter Van Ruijven?

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, a film based on the novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier, does something I've not seen done before, and which would enhance art appreciation considerably if a series of such productions were made focusing on publicly recognizable works of art, e.g. the "Mona Lisa" and her enigmatic smile. The film creates a fictional story around the genesis of the painting, and we watch as the artist creates it.

It's the Dutch city of Delft in 1665. A young girl, Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is employed as a common maid by Catharina (Essie Davis), the artist's haughty wife. At first, the viewer might be forgiven for being led to believe that the household is run by a matriarchy, Johannes (Colin Firth) himself being reclusive. Apparently presiding over everything is Maria Thins (Judy Parfitt), Catharina's severely parsimonious mother. Providing tension from a lower level is Cornelia, the artist's 6-year old daughter, who resents Griet from the very start.

Assigned to clean Vermeer's studio, Griet becomes enthralled by the work in progress. Noticing this, the artist emerges into the audience's view, and involves Griet in the mechanics of his art's creation, especially the selection and purchase of coloring materials, and the preparation of the oils. Griet fills a void in the artist's life. His wife doesn't "understand" his art, and, indeed, hasn't even set foot in his studio since some past quarrel. Johannes becomes (platonically) obsessed with Griet, and, unknown to Catharina, the girl fearfully becomes, perhaps realizing the potential repercussions, his model.

Johansson's performance is brilliant and worth an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Colin Firth, whose taciturnity and stone-facedness in his roles I usually find unappealing, is perfect as Vermeer. His smoldering passion for art and Griet, along with the other subsurface family tensions, keeps the viewer waiting for something to explode. Parfitt is terrific as the intimidating Maria Thins, who sees what's happening between her son-in-law and the maid, but says nothing to her daughter. Maria knows on which side the family's bread is buttered, and realizes that without the income generated by Vermeer's oils, the household would be thrown into the street.

A somewhat discordant note is the character of Van Ruijven, well-played by Tom Wilkinson. His growing lust for Griet becomes a distraction best left on the cutting room floor. However, his character is necessary to the story for the audience to understand an artist's financial precariousness.

Finally, the pearl earrings take center stage when the explosive confrontation between Johannes and Catharina finally occurs, and the latter's term for her husband's latest work is indeed curious. The audience is reminded of the symbolic power of material things.

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING will not likely make it out of the art houses into wide release. But it's a clever and beautiful film that grows on me the more I think about it. If you've ever stood entranced in front of a painting, go see this movie.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A painting in motion., January 24, 2004

By 

Miles D. Moore (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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What quietly compelling 2003 movie stars Scarlett Johansson and an older leading man having a platonic relationship in an exquisitely photographed, meticulously designed foreign locale? If you said, "Lost in Translation," you'd be right, but if you said, "Girl With a Pearl Earring," you'd also win the cigar. That "Lost in Translation" may be the second-best of the two indicates that "Girl With a Pearl Earring" deserves nothing but the highest praise. Johansson stars as Griet, a poor, illiterate young woman in 17th-century Delft who hires on as a maid in the household of the rising young painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). Slowly the moody, obsessed Vermeer begins to recognize in Griet a kindred spirit--someone who, though untutored, has a natural feeling for light, color and design. But their friendship is blighted from the start, thanks to Vermeer's jealous wife (Essie Davis), greedy mother-in-law (Judy Parfitt) and lustful patron (Tom Wilkinson). The performances are all quietly effective; the jury's still out on Johansson's range as an actress, but she is a singularly moving screen presence, and the camera adores her. Also deserving note are Davis, who makes Madame Vermeer both hateful and pitiable; Parfitt, a specialist in the portrayal of dragon mothers; and Cillian Murphy as Griet's boyfriend Pieter, a heartthrob in the making, who looks startlingly like the young Rudolf Nureyev. But the real stars of the production are the team of director Peter Webber, photographer Eduardo Serra and production designer Ben Van Os. Thanks to them, "Girl With a Pearl Earring" glows with a passionate beauty. Every single frame of the film looks like a Vermeer painting in motion, and the moment at which Griet poses for the eponymous painting will take your breath away with its perfection. Except perhaps for Tavernier's "A Sunday in the Country," I can't think of another feature film that brings art so vividly to life as "Girl With a Pearl Earring."