100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 61: Girl with a Pearl Earring

Director: Peter Webber

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 100 minutes

Year: 2003

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, Essie Davis

Description: Young peasant maid Griet (Scarlett Johansson) working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

Review: “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier. The story feels like it was written while watching the actual painting in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. What was the girl thinking, what’s the story behind this girl? The movie breaths the same fragile and silent atmosphere as the painting.

Griet is a maid that starts to work at the Vermeer household. Off course, man of the house is painter Johannes Vermeer. Eventually Griet became the model for his most famous painting. Like in Scarlett Johansson’s break through film “Lost in Translation” there is a strong connection between her character and an older man. And also in “Girl with a Pearl Earring” nothing is ever explicit, although the intimacy between the two is clearly present. Johansson’s performance is mesmerizing, where Colin Firth is doing a more routine job.

The story unfolds like a good historical drama. We see it all through the eyes of Griet. She doesn’t say much, be sees enough. “Girl with a Pearl Earring” speaks through atmosphere and cinematography.

“Girl with a Pearl Earring” is an excellent adaptation of the successful book and it looks beautiful.

Rating: 4/ 5