The movie is adapted from the book with the same name written by Tracy Chevalier. The author imagined a fictional story behind Johannes Vermeer most emblematic painting – Girl With a Pearl Earring.
This is the story of Griet who, after her father’s accident, has to find work to help her family and starts as a maid at the famous painter Johannes Vermeer household. Immediately, she is fascinated by her master’s paintings and the master himself. But in a house full of tension, Griet doesn’t know how to react to her master’s attention and his wife constant jealousy.
The cast was perfectly selected, and if we aren’t big fans of Scarlett Johansen, her Griet is a touching, intelligent and perceptive young woman with bright eyes wide open to better capture all the details of her new surroundings, a world where she doesn’t belong. Johansson has a good chemistry with Colin Firth and the scenes were both interact are always interesting. When she meets Vermeer for the first time (this is a deleted scene in the DVD) we feel that both already know something is going to happen between them.
Colin Firth looks positively gorgeous, especially during the camera obscura scene. His smile is contagious and his deep dark glances make our knees weak. His Vermeer is a mysterious man and somehow a frustrated artist who would want to create freely but has to satisfy a patron in order to feed his family.
The intense but quiet attraction between Griet and Vermeer feels very real. Both see the world with the same eyes, easily understanding each other and their love for colors and composition.
When Vermeer’s patron, Van Ruijven, meets Griet he senses a connection between his protegé and his servant. He tries by all means to get her in his bed, provoking the painter and feeding even more the jealousy of Vermeer’s wife, Catharina.
There are some changes in the movie compared to the book, mostly to add more drama and it works nicely. In the book the story is told through Griet’s eyes and here we have different perspectives from all the characters giving us more details about each one of them.
Vermeer was specialized mostly in interior domestic scenes and the movie captured this quite well with the bold colors, the richness of the details and that amazing intimate light. A beautiful composition who kept us hypnotized until the final credits.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/
Images: http://www.totalfilm.com/media/596
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To celebrate Tracy Chevalier’s new release Remarkable Creatures, we are giving away an ARC copy (already read 3 times). Stay tuned for more details!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve read the book a couple times, but haven’t yet gotten around to seeing the movie. Now I’m going to have to track down a copy so I can finally see it!
I saw the movie (Colin Firth!) but I didn’t know it was taken from a book.
I’ve heard about Tracy Chevalier from you for the first time, thanks to your givaway. There’s so much I haven’t read yet. I love this kind of historical fiction… I want to give TC a try… Thanks for the beautiful review and the pictures!
I love that you are saying your ARC has been read 3 times! LOL!
I loved this book…never have managed to see the movie!
I like Vermeer’s work. And Scarlet, for all her faults does do a good job being pretty. :)
I thought this adaptation very true to the book in plot, tone, and style. Both had a dreamlike quality that I thought enchanting.
i tried really hard to like the film but i don’t think it lived up to the book. i thought scarlet made the film boring, she always seems so passive. Loved collin though- who couldn’t?