Girl with a Pearl Earring

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING.

(Historical, Romance, Costume Drama, Biography 2003) D: Peter Webber W: Tracy Chevalier P: Peter Block – 1h 40m. UK

TAGLINE : Discover the mystery behind the legend.

A Young peasant maid working in the house of painted Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and model for one of his most famous works.

A beautiful movie where nearly every scene looks like a Dutch masterpiece. Visually this movie is stunning, and I’m not saying that just because I’m an artist.

It details very little about the inner thoughts of any of the characters but informs and entertains much in the same way as The Other Boleyn Girl (2008).

I felt that the actors were forced into being silent and still for most of the pivotal scenes, using body language and close ups to express the emotional thoughts rather than bold action, but to be honest if you study historical artist Vermeer (Colin Firth) was always referred to as being a quiet man of the Dutch Golden Age, often being outspoken.

The cinematography by Eduardo Serra and the production of the movie ensure that every scene captures a painting; a lot of the scenes the actors are still, the colours all mimic the pallet of an 1665 painter the scenes are all very typical of the subjects of many paintings of that time and genre.

I really do like my historical costume dramas so I’m a little bias here. This is certainly one of the more entertaining. It’s not trying to answer any questions, reveal any secrets or rewrite history, it’s just a simple explanation of what might have happened. Simply Vermeer and a host of others, (Tom Wilkinson and Cilian Murphy) all fall in love with one natural beauty and all need to possess her in some way.

Q: “You’ve glazed my wife in dry piss” “How hard is it to paint a pretty girl” R : The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) T: the original title of the painting is Hey Meisje met de Parel

7/10