December 3, 2003 -- “Girl With a Pearl Earring” is sort of a Dutch version of “Upstairs Downstairs.” There is a lot of seathing passion under the surface of this conflict of classes, and the cinematography is stunning. Every frame of this film is as beautiful as a fine painting. Unfortunately, the story moves about as fast as paint dries. Very little happens, but it takes forever just the same.

Based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier, it is a speculation on the story behind a famous painting by 17th century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. Very little is actually known about Vermeer. The novel and movie both try to concoct a story behind Vermeer's most mysterious painting. Unfortunately, the narrative in the movie is pretty skimpy, so if you haven't read the book, and you aren't an expert in art history, there are a lot of unanswered questions here. For instance, the movie makes this big deal about a chair being moved. You have to read other sources to discover that x-rays reveal that a chair was indeed painted over by Vermeer in this particular painting. In the movie, Griet (played by the lovely Scarlett Johansson of “Lost in Translation”) is hired by the Vermeer family as a maid. Griet needs to help out her financially-strapped family. Although it isn't explained in the movie, her father lost his sight in a kiln accident and thus lost his job as a tile painter, making the family desperate for money. A tile painted by her father, and other similar tiles appear in several scenes in the movie.

Griet has an eye for color and composition and Vermeer (played by Colin Firth of “Love Actually”), senses a sort of artistic kinship between himself and the girl. He teaches her about composition and color and how to mix the pigments used in his paintings. This technical part of the movie is actually interesting, as opposed to all the petty jealousy by certain characters in the story. Vermeer's mother in law, Maria Thins (played by Judy Parfitt) sees that Griet has inspired Vermeer to begin a new painting more quickly than usual. She encourages the relationship between Griet and Vermeer because the family desperately needs the money his paintings fetch. Although it isn't explained in the movie, the house that Vermeer lives in is actually owned by Thins, and she has other rental properties as well. That's what makes her the boss in this household. Vermeer is also subject to the whims of his wealthy patron, Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson of “In the Bedroom”). The beautiful Griet also catches the eye of Van Ruijven and he commissions a painting of her.

Thins is also in on the plot to make a painting of the maid, but Vermeer's jealous wife, Catharina (Essie Davis), is out of the loop. Catharina is getting more suspicious of Griet because she is spending a lot of time with her husband in the off-limits painting studio in the house. Catharina is not exactly lacking in her husband's attentions, however, since she spends most of the movie pumping out babies (11 of his children survived Vermeer after his death in 1675 at the age of 43). Another player in this soap opera-like drama is one of Vermeer's children, 12-year-old Cornelia (Alakina Mann), who is also jealous of Griet. She spies on Griet, sabotages her work, and tries to get her fired. That famous pearl earring (the painting of the girl with the pearl earring hangs in Mauritshuis, The Hague, and is considered one of Vermeer's best) plays a major role in this story. The earring belongs to Catharina. It is the same one hanging on Griet's ear in the painting.

Vermeer would like to be left alone to paint, but there are all these distractions which weigh heavily upon him. He could have made more money if he worked faster. A perfectionist, Vermeer produced few paintings. He typically spent a lot of time between paintings looking for more inspiration. Only 35 of Vermeer's paintings are known to have survived to the present day. Vermeer's typical slow start is one reason Thins jumps at the chance to put Griet and Vermeer together. She can see that Griet inspires Vermeer to paint. Griet would like to learn the art of painting herself, but there is intense social pressure for her to be a mere maid. There is yet another man persuing her, Pieter (Cillian Murphy of “28 Days Later”), the handsome son of a local butcher. Pieter actually makes more money than the slow-painting Vermeer. Griet is a symbol for women's rights in 17th Century Holland. All of the people around her, except, perhaps Vermeer himself, are trying to force her into a life she doesn't want. Van Ruijven actually tries to rape her, evidently thinking his patronage of Vermeer entitles him to take what he wants from her.

So what does all this amount to? It is a kind of low-level drama without a lot of substance to it. The relationship between Vermeer and Griet is intriguing, but ambivalent. The petty jealousies of Catharina, Van Ruijven and Cornelia make you want to slap them all and tell them to just grow up. The dragon lady, Maria Thins, turns out to be one of the few real adult characters in this film. She, at least, is trying to make sure the family has food on the table, a little detail that seems to have escaped the attention of the rest of these knuckleheads. The other adult characters in the film are the level-headed head maid of the household and Pieter. Griet looks like she is a sensible enough person, but is caught in the middle of many forces working against her true nature. She just can't find a way out of the trap she's in.

In the end, we're left with a whole lot of unresolved issues. There are also some serious gaps in the narrative that have to be filled in by sources other than the movie itself. I am one of those who think a movie should stand on its own. It should be self-contained. This film is not. It is a three-legged stool with one leg missing. Perhaps when the DVD comes out, the deleted scenes will fill some of these narrative gaps. Also, the central relationship in the film between Vermeer and Griet is a little too thin. It seems to me the film doesn't have the courage to really explore it. All we get is a few wimpy hints. This kind of watered-down love story is too thin to make a good soup, let alone a whole meal. It is possible to do a very circumspect, but full-bodied love story, like “Remains of the Day.” This film is more like some of the less successful Merchant-Ivory films about the uptight upper-crusters in old England. What it does have going for it is great acting, great cinematography by Eduardo Serra (“The Wings of the Dove”), and a fine musical score by Alexandre Desplat (“Read My Lips”). The production values, like the costume design (Dien Van Straalen), production design (Ben Van Os), set decoration (Cecile Heideman), and so on, are all first-rate. Because it's narrative is thin and incomplete, I would recommend this movie only for art lovers, for those who have read the book, or those who are fans of the artist Vermeer. This film rates a C+.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

As an addendum to this review, the film's credits include a character called Van Leeuwenhoek, played by David Morrissey. Maybe this character is actually Antony van Leeuwenhoek, who lived at the same time as Vermeer, the inventor of the microscope. Being a genius with optics, he may have had something to do with a camera obscura that Vermeer used in his studio in the film. Of course the film does not explain anything about Leeuwenhoek, or about the camera obscura. The camera obscura is shown in a couple of scenes in the movie, used as an aid to the artist. In most cases, the ground-glass image provided by a camera obscura would be inverted, rather than right side up, as shown in the movie. It is possible to flip the image with the right kind of lens. Presumably Leeuwenhoek could have made such a lens. The camera obscura in the movie does have what looks like a modern lens on it. There is some information about the camera obscura on the film's official web page, linked above. The article linked to the film's web page cites a book in which the author speculates that Vermeer used a camera obscura in his work as a painter. This speculation is based on calculations of the visual angles used in his paintings. Such calculations are possible because 20 of Vermeer's surviving paintings were of scenes located in the same corner of the same studio. Camera obscuras can still be found at various tourist sites around the world. I saw a large one (20 or more people could sit inside it) last year at Edinburgh, Scotland.

Copyright © 2003 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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