Girl with a Pearl Earring

Based on Tracy Chevalier’s best-selling novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring takes a famous enigmatic portrait and speculates on the identity of the subject and how the painting came to be. The film, carefully composed to reflect the world as seen by the artist, is gorgeous — a real pleasure to behold. There is some exceptional acting on display as well, particularly from Lost in Translation co-star Scarlett Johansson.

The way the storyline rolls out is a bit problematic, however. Though the Peter Webber-directed feature is only 99 minutes long, there are stretches where the pacing is positively glacial. For the most part, I appreciated the way the film uses silence, but there are a few points where the production slides from low-key into dullness. The good far outweighs the bad, though, and I would heartily recommend Girl with a Pearl Earring to all but the most impatient.

The artist in question is Johannes Vermeer, who lived from 1632 to 1675 in Delft, the Netherlands, a time marked by war and religious strife. Only 35 paintings are attributed to him. One of them was stolen in a 1990 Boston robbery and is still missing. When Vermeer, who also worked as an art dealer, died at 43, he left his family in debt.

Olivia Hetreed’s screenplay, which reportedly stays close to the book, moves from fact to fiction as it introduces Griet (Johansson), a Protestant teen-ager who takes a job as a servant in the painter’s home when her father, a tile painter, loses his sight.

Oh my, what a creepy home it is. The joint positively reeks of oppression. If a joke was ever told in the place, the words would likely freeze in midair and crash to the floor. Vermeer’s tightwad mother-in-law, Maria (Judy Parfitt), runs the household, which includes her daughter, the very high-maintenance and oft pregnant Catharina (Essie Davis), her snotty granddaughter and two female servants prone to snide gossip. Vermeer (Colin Firth) wisely spends most of his time in the studio, where he works very slowly on his latest painting, most likely commissioned by Master van Ruijven (Tom Wilkerson), his boorish patron. Vermeer’s meticulousness results in amazing works of art and too little money.

Griet, the daughter of an artist, sees Vermeer’s work with much more appreciative eyes than his family and he takes notice, bringing her into his studio to assist with materials. During trips to market to buy paint, she is befriended by Pieter (Cillian Murphy from 28 Days Later), the son of a local butcher. Back in the studio, as her knowledge becomes more apparent, she becomes more important to Vermeer, although you’d be hard-pressed to tell it by his stony countenance.

Wife Catharina gets jealous of Griet, natch, and the catty servants are scandalized by what might be going on behind closed doors. The tension ratchets even higher when horny van Ruijven secretly commissions Vermeer to do a painting of Griet.

The seething emotional battlefield is fascinating, though the aforementioned air of oppression becomes overwhelming at times. At other times, the sight of people glaring at each other just gets boring. But the tedium is worth it for scenes like the one that begins with Griet walking in while Catharina is playing Solitaire. I won’t spoil it — just watch carefully and see how much the director reveals by slowly pulling back on the camera.

Of the fine cast, Essie Davis stands out as Catharina, whose appearance and demeanor is quite exotic. Colin Firth gives a nuanced performance as Vermeer, but Scarlett Johansson is simply dazzling as Griet, reminding us that great acting can be done with few words.

Credit also must be given to Alexandre Desplat for his fine score, and especially cinematographer Eduardo Serra and designer Ben van Os for their magnificent use of light and composition. They insure that this film about a painting is a work of art unto itself.