Girl with a Pearl Earring

Peter Webber, UK/Luxembourg, 2003, 95 minutes

Film and photography are both media dependent on light. These days not too many of us consider that other medium where light has always been important: painting. Director Peter Webber, and more importantly, his Cinematographer Eduardo Serra have recreated the fabled light of Johannes Vermeer’s paintings in Girl with a Pearl Earring. The story is based on Tracey Chevalier’s novel, itself a fictionalised account of how Vermeer created one of his greatest and most mysterious masterpieces. The film grants us special access to this famous image, allowing us to view every stage of its creation in cinemascope.

In the film, Vermeer (Colin Firth in a remarkably understated performance) is at the service of his patron Van Ruijven, and surrounded by his constantly pregnant wife and grasping mother-in-law; he is a near silent character concerned only with his art. When a new maid Griet (Scarlett Johanssen) enters the household Vermeer sees how carefully she cleans his studio, and they soon become silent artistic conspirators against his wife. Griet’s portrait only comes about when Van Ruijven, after several unsuccessful attempts to assault the virtuous Griet, asks Vermeer to paint them together. Knowing this would irretrievably brand Griet a harlot, Vermeer compromises by saying he will paint an image of Griet alone for Van Ruijven’s private collection.

Girl with a Pearl Earring certainly romanticises the past (do you really think everyone was that clean?), but it also presents an interesting twist on the myth of the male artist. Throughout history the male artist has been seen almost without exception as a voracious sexual predator or a tortured genius, or some combination of the two. Girl with a Pearl Earring presents another alternative, the quiet, diligent master. This is a gorgeous and subtle film where much is communicated visually and where the life of a masterpiece, rather than its creator, takes precedence.

Review by Sarah Artt
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2004