\Girl with a Pearl Earring"" is one of those films that is better left to its original medium. In this case, it's a painting. Seventeenth century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer has remained a mystery for most of his life. His biography has come from legal documents and his greatest work, ""Girl with a Pearl Earring,"" is something of an enigma. The painting inspired a book of the same name by Tracy Chevalier, which in turn inspired this movie. This speculative historical fiction makes for an interesting though untrue story.
Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is hired by the Vermeer household as a common maid. When she wipes down the windows and catches the eye of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth), she becomes the servant of the painter. The maid and the master are soon caught in a taboo attraction circling around the aesthetics of Vermeer's art.
In the background is Vermeer's wife, Catharina (Essie Davis), who watches her husband attain a greater intimacy with Griet. But Vermeer's heart is not the only one that is led astray. An ordinary trip to the market brings the butcher boy, Pieter (Cillian Murphy), to Griet's attention.
The relationships develop with single brush strokes. There are no rushed romances or head-over-heels affairs that hit the characters with the tremendous force of forbidden romance. A kiss would be excessive in this film. Instead every moment of romance is drawn together through waiting fingers and longing gazes.
Most of the time every desire goes unfulfilled and the hopes of both Pieter and Vermeer are continually denied by Griet. With measured restraint she resists the advances of both men for much of the film, caught between the class conflict with Vermeer and the eagerness of Pieter.
The film benefits from that restraint. Every character develops slowly and only achieves their complete portrayal in the final few minutes. It is obvious early on that the film will only be completed when the painting is.
While the characters are given appropriate and fascinating depth, their conflicts are not allowed to come to fruition. The simmering tensions between the high-class household and Griet's peasant upbringing are a light mist when it could be a deluge. Without a sustained clash of the two worlds, ""Girl with a Pearl Earring"" misses the drama that goes into the creation of the painting.
In the film's beginning, Griet leaves her parent's' house with a warning from her mother not to betray her religion by hearing the Vermeers' prayers. Though that seems like foreshadowing, the movie never exhibits a disagreement in religion. Without these elements pushing against each other, it comes down to the painter and his model.
Firth goes a long way to make his portrayal of Vermeer an impressive one. However, he is a little too tight-lipped and tortured. Instead of coming across as a struggling artist, he seems desperate and distracted. His counterpart fares better but doesn't make the picture a masterpiece.
At the center of the film, Johansson holds down her role with an incredible grasp on the subtleties of Griet's expression, but misses the flawlessness of the role by a single shade. Considering Johansson's recent triumph in ""Lost in Translation,"" moviegoers will be expecting a perfect pose.
Unfortunately, the hues are off by the barest bit of illumination. Her smile is a millimeter off and her eyes focus for just a half-second too long. The thinnest of margins remove her performance from the ideal that the painting suggests. While commendable, ""Girl with a Pearl Earring"" is better as a painted picture than one in motion.
