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United Kingdom, Luxembourg · 2003
Rated PG-13 · 1h 41m
Director Peter Webber
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy
Genre Drama, Romance
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"Girl With A Pearl Earring," a painting by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, is translated from still image into motion picture. Based on the story by fiction novelist Tracy Chevalier, a young peasant maid works in the house of Vermeer and becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works in this true-to-form film.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
An auspicious feature-directing debut by Mr. Webber in so many ways -- a groaning board of temptations for the eye and ear -- that you may almost forgive the film its lack of drama and the perfunctory attempts at characterization. Viewing this film has been likened to watching paint dry; actually it is more like watching a painting dry.
The New Yorker by Anthony Lane
Look closely at Johansson...an immaculate period performance. [15 December 2003, p. 119]
Wide-eyed, open-mouthed, and silently beseeching, she's (Johansson) even more a screen for projection here than in "Lost in Translation"; surrounded by a gaggle of over-actors, she glows with understatement.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
One of those films that does many things right, and that places it among the year's best period pieces. It's a cut above the usual BBC costume drama.
Webber displays a great sense of understatement and a keen eye for careful framing, with cinematographer Eduardo Serra beautifully re-creating Vermeer's signature play of shadow and light.
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
This is an art film in spades.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The actress (Scarlett Johansson) gives a nearly silent performance, yet the interplay on her face of fear, ignorance, curiosity, and sex is intensely dramatic.
This material is either underdeveloped or crudely put by a director whose style is so conventional that he makes James Ivory look, by comparison, like Jean-Luc Godard.
Webber spins a slight but considerably enchanting tale of impossible romance and artistic discovery.
An intelligent, visually ravishing adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's best-selling novel.
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