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"Girl With a Pearl Earring" is a quiet movie, shaken from time to time by ripples of emotional turbulence far beneath the surface. It is about things not said, opportunities not taken, potentials not realized, lips unkissed. All of these elements are guessed at by the filmmakers as they regard a painting made in about 1665 by Johannes Vermeer. The painting shows a young woman regarding us over her left shoulder. She wears a simple blue headband and a modest smock. Her red lips are slightly parted. Is she smiling? She seems to be glancing back at the moment she was leaving the room. She wears a pearl earring.

Not much is known about Vermeer, who left about 35 paintings. Nothing is known about his model. You can hear that it was his daughter, a neighbor, a tradeswoman. You will not hear that she was his lover, because Vermeer's household was under the iron rule of his mother-in-law, who was vigilant as a hawk. The painting has become as intriguing in its modest way as the Mona Lisa. The girl's face turned toward us from centuries ago demands that we ask, who was she? What was the thinking? What was the artist thinking about her?

Tracy Chevalier's novel speculating about the painting has now been filmed by Peter Webber , who casts Scarlett Johansson as the girl and Colin Firth as Vermeer. I can think of many ways the film could have gone wrong, but it goes right, because it doesn't cook up melodrama and romantic intrigue but tells a story that's content with its simplicity. The painting is contemplative, reflective, subdued, and the film must be, too: We don't want lurid revelations breaking into its mood.

Sometimes two people will regard each other over a gulf too wide to ever be bridged, and know immediately what could have happened, and that it never will. That is essentially the message of "Girl with a Pearl Earring." The girl's name is Griet, according to this story. She lives nearby. She is sent by her blind father to work in Vermeer's house, where several small children are about to be joined by a new arrival. The household is run like a factory with the mother- in-law, Maria Thins ( Judy Parfitt ) as foreman. She has set her daughter to work producing babies while her son-in-law produces paintings. Both have an output of about one a year, which is good if you are a mother, but not if you are a painter.

Nobody ever says what they think in this house, except for Maria, whose thoughts are all too obvious, anyway. Catharina ( Essie Davis ), Vermeer's wife, sometimes seems to be standing where she hopes nobody will see her. It becomes clear that Griet is intelligent in a natural way, but has no idea what to do with her ideas. Of course she attracts Vermeer's attention; she's a hard worker and responds instinctively to the manual labor of painting -- to the craft, the technique, the strategy, even the chemistry (did you know that the color named Indian yellow is distilled from the urine of cows fed on mango leaves?).

In one flawless sequence, Griet is alone in Vermeer's studio and looks at the canvas he is working on, looks at what he is painting, looks back, looks forth, and then moves a chair away from a window. When he returns and sees what she has done, he studies the composition carefully and removes the chair from his painting. Eventually he has her move up to the attic, closer to his studio, where she can mix his paints, which she does very well.

And then of course they start sleeping together? Not in this movie. Vermeer has a rich patron named Van Ruijven ( Tom Wilkinson ). If Vermeer is too shy to reveal feelings for his maid, Van Ruijven is not. He wants a painting of the girl. This of course would be unacceptable to Catharina Vermeer, whose best-developed quality is her insecurity -- but it is not unacceptable to her mother, who must keep a rich patron happy. Thus Griet becomes a model.

There is a young man in the town, Pieter ( Cillian Murphy ), a butcher's apprentice, who is attracted to Griet. He would make her a good husband, in this world where status and opportunity are assigned by caste. Griet likes him. It's not that she likes Vermeer more; indeed, she's so intimidated she barely speaks to the artist. It's that -- well, Griet could never be a butcher, but she could be a painter.

Mankind has Shakespeares who were illiterate, Mozarts who never heard a note, painters who never touched a brush. Griet could be a painter. Whether a good or bad one, she will never know. Vermeer senses it. The moments of greatest intimacy between the simple peasant girl and the famous artist come when they sit side by side in wordless communication, mixing paints, both doing the same job, both understanding it.

Do not believe those who think this movie is about the "mystery" of the model, or Vermeer's sources of inspiration, or medieval gender roles, or whether the mother-in-law was the man in the family. A movie about those things would have been a bad movie. "Girl With a Pearl Earring" is about how they share a professional understanding that neither one has in any way with anyone else alive. I look at the painting and I realize that Griet is telling Vermeer, without using any words, "Well, if it were my painting, I'd have her stand like this."

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

101 minutes

Scarlett Johansson as Griet

Colin Firth as Johannes Vermeer

Tom Wilkinson as Van Ruijven

Judy Parfitt as Maria Thins

Essie Davis as Catharina

Cillian Murphy as Pieter

Joanna Scanlan as Tanneke

Alakina Mann as Cornelia

Directed by

• Peter Webber
• Olivia Hetreed

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Movie Review: 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'

Kenneth Turan

A softly lit oil portrait of a young woman with a pearl earring is one of Johannes Vermeer's best-known paintings. The new film Girl with a Pearl Earring brings the story behind the famous image to the silver screen. Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

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Girl with a Pearl Earring

By Anthony Lane

This slow, attentive movie about a painter and his model, the director Peter Webber’s 2003 reworking of Tracy Chevalier’s novel, is worth staying with: it casts a heavy spell as it unfolds the tale of Griet (Scarlett Johansson), a maid newly arrived in the house of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). The year is 1665, and the period reconstruction, for those who are aroused by such things, is—apart from a few modern lines of dialogue—formidably detailed. The danger with such beautifying efforts is that it risks turning cinema into a branch of taxidermy; what keeps Webber’s movie alive is the tenseness of the setup (will this girl stay in the artist’s household, and, if so, will she become his lover or his muse?), and, above all, the presence of Johansson. She is often wordless and close to plain onscreen, but wait for the ardor with which she can summon a closeup and bloom under its gaze; this is her film, not Vermeer’s, all the way. (Streaming on Amazon, Hulu, and other services.)

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Girl with a Pearl Earring

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

• Peter Webber
• Tracy Chevalier
• Olivia Hetreed
• Scarlett Johansson
• Colin Firth
• Tom Wilkinson
• 334 User reviews
• 128 Critic reviews
• 72 Metascore
• 19 wins & 46 nominations total

• Van Ruijven

• Maria Thins

• Griet's Father
• Griet's Mother

• Baby Franciscus
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The painting that Griet inspired Vermeer to paint while she is washing the window of his studio is called "Woman with a Water Jug". It is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY.
• Goofs When Griet and Pieter are walking on a lane in the countryside, in the distance you can see a man riding a bicycle. Bicycles were invented in the 18th century while the film takes place in 1665.

[after bringing meat for the birth feast]

Pieter : Not even a smile for my pains?

Griet : Not today.

Pieter : Come on.

[she refuses]

Pieter : I shall put it in the book, then: "Owed by Griet: one smile."

[Griet gives in and smiles]

• Connections Featured in The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004)

User reviews 334

• bob the moo
• Jun 15, 2008
• How long is Girl with a Pearl Earring? Powered by Alexa
• What are the official chapter headings?
• How do you pronounce Griet?
• January 30, 2004 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Thiếu Nữ Đeo Hoa Tai Ngọc Trai
• Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
• Archer Street Productions
• Delux Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $12,000,000 (estimated)
• $11,670,971
• Dec 14, 2003
• $33,030,115

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 40 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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FILM REVIEW

FILM REVIEW; Painting Interiors of the Heart, With Eros in Restrained Hues

By Elvis Mitchell

• Dec. 12, 2003

At the start of ''Girl With a Pearl Earring,'' Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is shown peeling an onion, an image as metaphor rarely seen outside first-semester filmmaking classes. The determination visible in such an effort communicates Importance Writ Large. And the film, adapted by Olivia Hetreed from Tracy Chevalier's novel, does have a great subject: the story surrounding an artwork shrouded in mystery and a project that ruins a woman's reputation yet ensures her a place in history.

This film, which opens today in New York and Los Angeles, is the imagined tale of Griet, a maid who became the muse of Johannes Vermeer and the subject of his painting ''Girl With a Pearl Earring.'' Ms. Johansson is photographed so that her skin is as opalescent as her earring, but the movie is opaque. It is an earnest, obvious melodrama with no soul, filled with the longing silences that come after a sigh.

Yet the care that has gone into making ''Earring,'' a dexterous and absorbing visual re-creation of the lighting and the look that Vermeer achieved in his work, is a tribute to the director Peter Webber's own group of artisans, the cinematographer Eduardo Serra and the production designer Ben van Os. The gorgeous score, by Alexandre Desplat, brushes in a haunted gloom that gives the picture life where none seems to exist. This is the kind of film that would prompt the movie industry trade papers to say ''technical credits above par.''

The teenage Griet is sent off to earn a living because her blind father can no longer support her. The onion she is opening at the story's start is part of the last meal she prepares at home before being shipped off. Her separation anxiety registers so fully throughout the film that it should be listed in the cast of characters as the credits roll. Anxiety permeates the movie like fear of punctures in a Freddy Krueger film. The household that Griet joins is filled with noisy, spoiled children who look down their noses at her. The mistress of the house, Catharina (Essie Davis), is about to add another mouth to the brood.

In addition to her other tasks, Griet is given the duty of cleaning the master's studio, where she develops an interest in the room and its contents. When she asks if she should clean the windows -- that would change the light, she notes -- a befuddled but indifferent mistress tells the maid to do so. Griet's attention to detail has caught the eye of the intense but distracted Vermeer, who is already behind on a commission that is keeping the family fed and clothed.

These commissions are brokered by Vermeer's imperiously practical, and equally proud, mother-in-law (Judy Parfitt), who suggests an art-house version of Frau Blücher from ''Young Frankenstein.'' The figures in his paintings seem to flinch when she speaks.

The jobs she secures for her son-in-law also keep Vermeer in the good graces of van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), an acquisitive and unabashed reprobate who also has an eye on Griet. ''You have very wide eyes,'' he admires, turning a compliment into sexual harassment, and Mr. Wilkinson relishes every moment of aggression. His frankly projected appetites make him the only person in the film capable of enjoyment. He loves describing the press of fabric against a woman's skin as if he, too, were caressing it. And as the most fully realized character, he passes that pleasure along to the audience.

With all these assaults on her fluttering, tender sensibility -- and on her time -- it is no wonder that Griet always seems on the verge of tears. One of her few respites comes from the notice of the butcher's thoughtful apprentice, Pieter (Cillian Murphy). But she is far more intrigued by Vermeer, and based on Colin Firth's interpretation it is easy to see why. He plays Vermeer as a taciturn eccentric whose dark eyes house terror, anger and finally appreciation.

He drinks in Griet's understanding of his art. A scene in which he demonstrates the workings of a camera obscura to her -- and their transfixed faces are bathed in its buttery light -- has real emotional power; it is like watching a pair of kids trading secrets under a sheet. And when the painter does talk, he speaks faster and with greater passion than anyone else; words boil out of him. Though Griet drops her head in his presence, her shyness appears disingenuous; she may be the first person ever to be camera-obscura conscious.

''Girl With a Pearl Earring'' is 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.

''Girl With a Pearl Earring'' is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for shadowy sexual innuendo and suggestive situations.

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING

Directed by Peter Webber; written by Olivia Hetreed, based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier; director of photography, Eduardo Serra; edited by Kate Evans; music by Alexandre Desplat; production designer, Ben van Os; produced by Andy Paterson and Anand Tucker; released by Lions Gate Films. Running time: 99 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Colin Firth (Johannes Vermeer), Scarlett Johansson (Griet), Tom Wilkinson (van Ruijven), Judy Parfitt (Maria Thins), Cillian Murphy (Pieter) and Essie Davis (Catharina).

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Girl With a Pearl Earring Reviews

What keeps Webber's movie alive is the tenseness of the setup (will this girl stay in the artist's household, and, if so, will she become his lover or his muse?), and, above all, the presence of Johansson.

Full Review | May 10, 2021

[A] satisfying, provocative film.

Full Review | Jan 29, 2020

A visually stunning masterpiece with the beauty and elegance of a single perfect pearl.

Full Review | Nov 7, 2019

Little happens -- save for several family arguments and the artist worrying about money and the integrity of his ambition -- yet it is unforgettable, and, shot to look like a moving Vermeer painting, effortlessly profound.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 14, 2017

Older teens and adults will enjoy. Book is better.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 24, 2010

The film is an intriguing speculative account of the creation of one of Vermeer's most famous and sensual paintings. Every shot in the film looks like it was taken right out of a painting from Delft, Holland circa 1665...

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 9, 2009

The movie benefits greatly from Johansson's gift for understated delivery, but she's less assured in this demure, largely non-verbal role than she was as a modern young woman in Ghost World and Lost in Translation.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 3, 2008

An entertaining but inauthentic adaptation, a production which reads more like a Hollywood teensploit than a historical epic from Holland.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 25, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 1, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Mar 5, 2005

... a movie about a kind of understanding that rarely passes between human beings; a solemn, sacred meeting of minds.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jan 10, 2005

Girl with the Pearl Earring is about the liberating and inspiring experience of being seen.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 6, 2004

Like the finest of Vermeer's paintings, the film's richly textured elements blend perfectly, unforgettably framed.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Oct 14, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 7, 2004

Girl gives us a vividly painted world but only patchily drawn characters - in that sense, it gets Vermeer only half right

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 30, 2004

A fascinating concept that loses its luster on screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 13, 2004

Girl with a pearl earring (...) is a movie of few words and beautiful pictures, and the story is as understated as the acting.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2004

A terrifically realised film, startlingly emotional and wonderfully visceral.

Full Review | Original Score: 82/100 | Jul 20, 2004

Scarlett Johansson, 19, has a matureness beyond her years.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5 | Jun 22, 2004

To watch Girl With a Pearl Earring is to sense that one great photograph after another is unfolding before the eyes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 14, 2004

Girl With A Pearl Earring Review

16 Jan 2004

100 minutes

Girl With A Pearl Earring

Tracy Chevalier's novel, from which Girl With A Pearl Earring is adapted, attempts to solve the mystery that surrounds Vermeer's painting of the same name. Although no-one is sure of the identity of the beautiful girl who inspired the artist to produce one of the world's greatest paintings, Chevalier cobbled together a series of clues and created a bestselling novel.

Director Webber sticks firmly to the book and, in doing so, has produced a captivating film whose stunning use of set design and colour recreates Vermeer's sense of space and reality in almost every shot.

Firth's Vermeer is distant and untouchable, making his attraction to Griet all the more powerful. Johansson, meanwhile, shows a remarkable resemblance to the servant girl in the picture, and deserves praise for her ability to keep Griet simple and naturally beautiful.

Related Articles

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Girl with a Pearl Earring

Time out says, release details.

• Duration: 100 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Peter Webber
• Screenwriter: Olivia Hetreed
• Colin Firth
• Scarlett Johansson
• Tom Wilkinson
• Judy Parfitt
• Cillian Murphy
• Essie Davis
• Joanna Scanlan
• Alakina Mann
• Chris McHallem
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• Anais Nepper

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• DVD & Streaming

Girl With a Pearl Earring

• Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Scarlett Johansson as Griet; Colin Firth as Johannes Vermeer; Tom Wilkinson as Master van Ruijven; Cillian Murphy as Pieter; Essie Davis as Catharina

Home Release Date

• Peter Webber

Distributor

Movie review.

When Tracy Chevalier penned Girl With a Pearl Earring , a novel that eventually sold more than 2 million copies worldwide and became the launching pad for this movie, she was inspired by a poster in her bedroom of Johannes Vermeer’s painting of the same name. Only a few facts are known about Vermeer’s life, so she imagined a back story …

The year is 1665. Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, while greatly talented, struggles to complete his works of art in a timely manner. The consequence of this lack of assiduousness is financial pressure—something that dogs his family constantly. Johannes is married to Catharina, with whom he shares 10 children (and one more on the way). All the Vermeers live at Catharina’s mother’s house, where Johannes maintains his studio.

Although funds are tight, they still manage to sustain an upper-middle class lifestyle complete with two domestic servants. The newest of these is 17-year-old Griet, who has been forced into the job market following a kiln explosion that disabled her father, a tile painter.

It’s in the Vermeer’s home that Griet discovers she shares a passion for color, shape, illusion and light with the Dutch master. What develops, however, soon goes far beyond art. Quickly, Vermeer’s interest in his new maid becomes an obsession. Correspondingly, despite entertaining a deepening relationship with the neighborhood butcher’s son (Pieter), Griet finds herself inexorably drawn into Vermeer’s web. As an employee, she’s unsure how to resist her boss’ advances. As a young woman, she’s not sure she really wants to.

Positive Elements

As a teenager, Griet’s sacrifice to become her family’s breadwinner is noble.

Spiritual Elements

Griet’s mother warns her to beware of “Catholic prayers,” adding, “If you have to [hear] them stop your ears!” The newest of the Vermeer clan is baptized using a Trinitarian formula recited in Latin. A painting of Jesus being attended by disciples after the crucifixion is displayed on a wall. Catharina uses the expression, “By all the saints.” At a church, a pastor can be heard (although not seen) saying, “Let’s give thanks …”

Sexual Content

Although lust and power are key themes, and sexual tension propels the story, Johannes and Griet do not consummate their relationship. (So this film could have been a lot worse.) Still, at its essence Girl With a Pearl Earring is about a married father of 11 lusting after his teenage maid. With great desire, Vermeer gazes at Griet in several scenes, including one in which he voyeuristically watches her remove her headgear in private (something she refused to do for him earlier as it would have been immodest). Several scenes accentuate Vermeer touching his maid’s hands, first almost incidentally, then more intentionally. After Johannes pierces Griet’s ear, he comforts her with a tender hug, then caresses her lips with his fingertips.

The movie assigns no downside to Vermeer’s affair-of-the-mind other than the fact that he has to listen to his wife spout off about his painting being “obscene” (it isn’t), envious that she wasn’t chosen as the subject of his art. Alas, it is Catharina who is vilified. While she is overbearing and mean-spirited as a rule, her reaction to her husband’s “infidelity” is most certainly justified. But our sympathies are consistently turned toward Johannes, who, after all, has to live with an inconsiderate wife. Griet’s budding relationship with Pieter never seems to satisfy the young maid. Still, the couple does kiss passionately. Later, in a stable, it’s implied that what is viewed onscreen (fervent affection) eventually leads to physical intimacy off screen. Master van Ruijven, the wealthy patron of Vermeer’s art, attempts to rape Griet, but is interrupted before he can go any further than to tear her dress (no nudity is shown). Earlier he refers to a woman’s breasts as “plump little bubbies.” And it is explained that van Ruijven impregnated one of the subjects of a painting he commissioned. Several women, including Catharina, wear low-cut dresses. Johannes caresses his (fully-clothed) wife while she plays the harpsichord.

Violent Content

After Griet spies one of Johannes’ daughters wiping mud across her freshly cleaned laundry, she slaps her across the face. When that same daughter is caught stealing a comb, her grandmother swats her across the hand with a rod. So that Griet can model the pearl earring for Vermeer’s painting, he pierces her ear with an awl, drawing blood. Van Ruijven attempts to rape Griet.

Crude or Profane Language

Two abuses of God’s name (both from the villainous van Ruijven) join one use of “p-ss” and a slang term for breasts.

Drug and Alcohol Content

No one is shown intoxicated, but wine is frequently served at meals and social settings. Catharina’s mother smokes.

Other Negative Elements

[ Spoiler Warning ] The movie ends with Griet being kicked out of the Vermeer home by Catharina. Shortly thereafter, however, Griet receives a package containing the set of pearl earrings that belonged to Catharina. (This suggests that Johannes is still interested.) Some viewers may be grossed out by a butcher’s stand that displays pig heads and other animal parts.

No onscreen sex. No nudity. Very few language problems. And just hints at violence. Despite the relatively small amount of overtly objectionable content, though, Girl With a Pearl Earring is far from acceptable entertainment, celebrating middle-aged lechery, and embracing inappropriate relationships and lustful thoughts.

If Vermeer would have seen the error of his ways before the closing credits, begged forgiveness from his wife and Griet, and pledged future faithfulness, this review might read a bit differently (although I would still question why a film about adult-teen lust needs to be made in the first place). But first-time big screen director Peter Webber doesn’t even attempt to moralize, leaving audiences with a hollow, bleak look inside a 17th century dysfunctional family—with little reason to care and plenty of reasons not to.

Bob Waliszewski

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Girl with a Pearl Earring (United Kingdom/Luxembourg, 2003)

Girl with a Pearl Earring is the first feature for director Peter Webber. Most freshman filmmakers don't come close to Webber's level of accomplishment, and (not to take anything away from him) some of the credit must certainly be parceled out to the cast and the cinematographer, Eduardo Serra. Girl with a Pearl Earring offers sumptuous visuals and compelling drama effectively intermingled in a pleasing, satisfying production. The director has crafted the film with great care, composing each frame like a painting with respect to color, light, camera placement, and texture. Girl with a Pearl Earring could be silent and it would still be an amazing achievement. Indeed, the dialogue is sparse, which forces the performers to do most of their acting with expressions and body language - something Scarlett Johansson (who can also be seen in Lost in Translation ) excels at. By reading her eyes and face, we understand her thoughts.

The movie purports to tell the story behind the creation of Vermeer's 1665 painting, "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Since historical records are sketchy at best, most of the screenplay (based on Tracy Chevalier's book) is conjecture. The film does not carry a "based on real events" label. Nevertheless, the postulated tale is both credible and dramatically solid, thus forming the spine of a sensitive, intelligent motion picture.

Griet (Johansson) goes to work in the household of Johannes Vermeer when she's a teenager. Forced into service because her parents can no longer support her, she must endure difficult conditions in order to remain employed. The Vermeers are not easy to work for. The head of the household (Colin Firth) is a moody individual, and spends long hours locked away in his vast studio. His perpetually pregnant wife, Catharina (Essie Davis), is resentful and jealous of Griet's youth and beauty. His mother-in-law, Maria (Judy Parfitt), is a strict disciplinarian. His children don't like Griet, and his patron, van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), likes her too much. Eventually, van Ruijven's attraction for Griet leads him to commission a painting of her. Maid posing for master leads to a variety of tensions, both domestic and erotic. The result of this, however, is "Girl with a Pearl Earring."

Most recent movies about painters have done a poor job of conveying the delicacy and complexity of the artistic process. Not so in this case. Webber's approach gives us excellent insight into Vermeer's creative process. The scenes in his studio, especially those with Griet working as his assistant/apprentice, are among the best the movie has to offer. The relatively straightforward melodrama of the friction between Griet and the rest of the household is counterbalanced by the better, more complex material. The sexual chemistry between Griet and Vermeer is wonderfully understated, but unmistakable. The most erotic moment of the film comes when Vermeer steals a glance at Griet with her hair unbound. It's every bit as sensual as if he had seen her naked.

Johansson's sublime performance is ably supported by those of her better-known co-stars. Colin Firth gives us a brooding, dour Vermeer who only shows passion while painting (imagine Mr. Darcy with long hair). Judy Parfitt is her usual excellent, acid-tongued self. Tom Wilkinson gives himself to debauched abandon. And Essie Davis plays her part as a grown-up spoiled brat to the hilt. We have come to anticipate top-notch acting in British productions, and our expectations are not disappointed here. Girl with a Pearl Earring is 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.

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Girl With a Pearl Earring and Other Treaures from the Mauritshuis review

T his latest gallery film concentrates on Vermeer’s celebrated Girl With a Pearl Earring painting, itself of impeccably middlebrow spin-off lineage after the successful novel by Tracy Chevalier and subsequent film adaptation. It’s a middle-of-the-bat study of the work, with a bit of context thrown in, draped around a wider PR project of puffing the newly reopened Mauritshuis gallery in the Hague. I suspect it may be pushing the limits of what a cinema audience will go for – a hot ticket exhibition like Late Rembrandt this isn’t – and ends up caught between acting as a substitute for the gallery experience and trying to stand up as a film in its own right. But it’s not without interest.

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• Johannes Vermeer

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Girl with a Pearl Earring

Short takes

Not recommended under 8, PG to 13 (Viol. Themes.)

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Girl with a Pearl Earring
• a review of Girl with a Pearl Earring completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 12 March 2004 .

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie.

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

In 1665 Holland, Griet is a young girl whose father is no longer able to work due to an accident that has left him blind and maimed. She is sent to work as a servant girl for the family of Johannes (Jan) Vermeer, a painter, with a wife Catharina, several children and an overseeing mother-in-law, Maria. Griet’s abode is in the cellar where she unpacks her few belongings. As part of her work Griet has to clean the master’s studio where she becomes intrigued by his paintings. She gradually develops a relationship with Jan in which they are connected by an understanding of the use of light and colour in his work. The relationship develops into one of simmering but unfulfilled desire of which Catharina and also one of the daughters, Cornelia, become aware. Cornelia tries to make life hard for Griet but Jan comes to her aid. Griet also develops a relationship with a local boy at the market, Pieter, who wants to marry her.

When money becomes tight in the Vermeer household, Maria, the mother-in-law, approaches the nasty Van Ruijven, to commission a painting. Van Ruijven is also attracted by Griet’s youth, and wanting to cause mischief, insists that Jan paint Griet on her own. Jan makes Griet take her bonnet off but she refuses to wear his wife’s pearl earrings. Maria, knowing the precarious financial situation they are in, obtains the earrings for Griet and insists she wears them. Griet allows Jan to pierce her ears and thus the famous painting becomes a reality.

Use of violence info

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including the following:

• Cornelia tears Griet’s clothes.
• Cornelia is whipped on the hand for stealing and laying the blame on Griet (only the whip is shown).
• Van Ruijven tries to rape Griet; he drags her away while she is hanging out the washing, tears her clothes and attempts to force himself on her but is interrupted. Griet is left with bruising on the neck.
• Jan pierces Griet’s ears with a tool.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under five info.

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

There is some material that would scare children in this age group as well as the above violent scenes:

• Life in 17th century Holland is very austere. The housing is dark and cold and lit by candles.
• A family is shown being thrown out on the street.
• Griet’s father’s hand is shown badly mutilated.
• The market place is full of dead animals hanging upside down and pigs’ heads.
• The mother-in-law is very severe looking and smokes a pipe.
• Catharina gives birth which is not shown, but her screams are heard.
• Griet has no control over her own life.

Aged five to eight info

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group may also be disturbed by the scenes mentioned above.

Aged eight to thirteen info

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children in this age group might still be disturbed by some of the above. However it could also be a useful learning experience for them, in respect of the changes in society over time and in particular the treatment of women and girls.

Thirteen and over info

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Most of the content of the movie would be ok for children over the age of 13. However, some adolescent girls could be disturbed by the attempted rape scene. Also, the fact that Griet has no control over her own life and can be used by her masters as they please, might be disturbing.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie:

• There is an obvious sexual desire between Jan and Griet.
• Jan tells Griet she’s not to sleep with Van Ruijven.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some sexual activity in this movie:

• Van Ruijven tries to rape Griet.
• Pieter and Griet kiss passionately and a sexual encounter is implied (not shown).

Use of substances

Maria smokes a pipe.

Coarse language

There is a little coarse language including the use of ‘My God’ a couple of times. Van Ruijven says that Vermeer glazed his wife in dried piss.

In a nutshell

The take home message from the movie is that life in the 17th century was very hard particularly if one had no money and had to work as a servant.

Values parents may wish to encourage include:

• an appreciation of art
• endurance through adversity

Values parents may wish to avoid include:

• using one’s position to disadvantage another person
• spitefulness

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Girl with a pearl earring.

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (2)

Based on 3 parent reviews

For art fans

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Why bother, depending on parents i say older teens and adults.

‘Girl With the Pearl Earring’ Helmer Peter Webber to Direct World War II Drama About Family Behind Leica Camera Brand (EXCLUSIVE)

By Leo Barraclough

Leo Barraclough

International Features Editor

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Peter Webber , who helmed the Oscar-nominated “Girl With the Pearl Earring,” is to direct a film about the family behind the Leica camera brand, who helped many Jewish people escape Germany during World War II.

Webber has teamed up with Red Panda Films’ Martin Serene and Franziska Morai, also the film’s screenwriter, Christine Guenther of Fireglory Pictures and Birgit Gernboeck to produce the film, with Versa Studios attached as a partner.

Popular on Variety

As well as Ernst Leitz II, the film will center on his daughter Elsie Kuehn-Leitz, who was imprisoned by the Gestapo for trying to prevent a Jewish woman’s deportation to a concentration camp. Elsie experienced extreme starvation and psychological torture at the hands of the Nazis but due to her father’s company’s rise to international fame it ultimately enabled her and many Jewish people to survive.

Morai said: “It’s an honor to write a screenplay based on this remarkable true story, particularly about Elsie, who risked her life to save another woman, and thereby set an example of tremendous courage and compassion that’s deeply inspiring and lives on forever.”

The current owners of Leica, Andreas Kaufmann and Karin Rehn‐Kaufmann, are supporting the film and have opened their private archives to the team.

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‘Fantasmas’ Trailer: Julio Torres Is on a Surreal Odyssey to Find a Lost Pearl Earring

Samantha bergeson.

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Julio Torres is stepping into a very literal and gender-swapped “Girl With a Pearl Earring” rendition for HBO.

The “Los Espookys” creator is back at the network with new surreal series “ Fantasmas ,” which he created, directed, and stars in. The series debuted at the ATX TV Festival earlier this year.

In addition to Torres, the cast includes Martine Gutierrez, Tomas Matos, and Joe Rumrill as the voice of Bibo. Nearly two dozen guest stars will make special appearances throughout the series’ six episodes, including Steve Buscemi, Paul Dano, Julia Fox, Alexa Demie, Aidy Bryant, Bowen Yang, Kim Petras, Ziwe, and Emma Stone, who also executive produces through her Fruit Tree banner.

Torres executive produces alongside Stone and Dave McCary, plus Alex Bach and Daniel Powell for Irony Point and Olivia Gerke for 3 Arts. Ali Herting is a co-executive producer.

Stone and Torres’ collaborations began at “SNL” where Torres penned some of Stone’s favorite sketches, including a scrapped bit titled “The Silver Woman.”

“Julio and I talked about this Silver Woman, and he’s like, ‘She’s… having like this, slow motion mental breakdown. You know, it’s like Nicole Kidman in ‘Birth,’” Stone said during  “The A24 Podcast”  alongside Torres. “And it was a very dramatic performance, as it is in most of your work,  like Tilda [Swinton] in ‘Problemista,’  or like in ‘The Actress,’ which is another one that we did for ‘SNL.’ None of this is taken lightly. Like, your approach to comedy is like, while it might be absurdist …you have to believe it with your whole heart, and it has to be life or death.”

“It was so genius, and I really, I just did not Kidman enough. I really didn’t,” Stone said of the rehearsed bit. “And I want another chance. I want another crack at ‘Silver Woman.'”

Well, now Stone is helping Torres find his not silver but gold earring for the new series.

“Fantasmas” premieres June 7 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. Check out the trailer below.

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