Girl with a Pearl Earring

Repeat view. First Viewed: 2005, Notes from 2005.

Girl With a Pearl Earring
Beauty inspires obsession

Based on a novel by Tracy Chevalier this movie is a story of Griet a beautiful peasant who starts to work as a maid in the wealthy home of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and how she with her innocence and curiosity inspires the talented Vermeer, initially by assisting him and eventually by modelling one of his natural masterpieces. On an abstract plane there is a parallel and subtle exploration of the meaning and the boundaries of love {?} within and out of society in the uncertain backdrop of art.

The story is just a lovely fiction by Tracy Chevalier adding imagination to the making of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. Young Griet begins to work as a maid in the patrician family of Vermeer to support her financially struggling parents. Although illiterate she exhibits an innate understanding of subtleties of colour and light often unnoticed by Vermeer’s own lavish family mainly made of wife and mother in law. As she spends more time amongst the paintings, the studio turns into an imaginative respite and she finds herself slowly drawn into his world which in turn, offers him a natural way out from the bauble of his kitschy family before ultimately inspiring him to paint her as the model. And all through this, Vermeer finds himself torn between a dull family and his love for true art, while she conscious of the futility of their intrigue and the class distinctions finds herself in the affections of a native butcher boy. That a wealthy patron of Vermeer’s art also starts to develop more than a wild interest in Griet doesn’t help the quagmire any bit. Sailing through such testing waters, the story moves along to capture how, held by their conviction and bound by love for art they manage to be immortalised in one of the most genuinely captivating paintings ever. Beauty as it is aptly said inspires obsession.

Scarlett Johansson as griet is refined and breathtakingly luminous at times, Colin Firth(Vermeer) although just about manages to convince himself off the lover boy image, one tends to get a feeling that a more gifted actor would have justified the silent and intriguing chemistry between them better. The familial characters manage to fulfil the demands of their role quite unremarkably. Essie Davis as Vermeer’s wife is just about tailor- made for the role. For veterans Tom Wilkinson(MasterVan Ruijven), Judy Parfitt( Maria Thins/Mother in law)and Joanna Scanlan(Tanneke) it is just another day in the office. Cillian Murphy(Pieter), as the love interest of griet shows promise.
It is the art direction that is quite outstanding to recreate the feel of 17th century Netherlands, in fact I can’t remember of any better reconstructed renaissance films amongst that I’ve seen. Since Olivia Hetreed has done a decent job in screenwriting, director Peter Webber’s role is reduced to unimaginative supervision with very little room to improvise.The music, crowned by an alluring soundtrack aptly compliments the ambience of the movie. Eduardo Serra’s exquisite cinematography is a treat that justifies the motif of the movie as the different scenes are brilliantly captured in the artistic interplay of shadows and light.

To conclude, the story line is no where near exciting neither is anything sensational in the movie; this film is about and in images, and that is exactly what makes it a memorable viewing more than anything else, especially for viewers like me who think in images.So if you are the types who cherish computer aided imagistic memories, you are advised to give yourself an easier choice.