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Girl with a Pearl Earring
Lions Gate Films Inc.


6.7

based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 33 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt, Cillian Murphy, Essie Davis, Joanna Scanlan, and Alakina Mann

Set in 17th century Holland, this speculative account focuses on a 16-year-old housemaid who was the inspiration for one of Johannes Vermeer's most famous paintings.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Olivia Hetreed Tracy Chevalier (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Peter Webber
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 4, 2004 Video: May 4, 2004 Theatrical: December 12, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	95 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / Luxembourg

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Look closely at Johansson...an immaculate period performance. [15 December 2003, p. 119]

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

What distinguishes Girl With a Pearl Earring is its combination of refined filmmaking and Johansson's exquisitely understated acting. It partakes of Vermeer's spirit and style, and that makes it one of the year's best movies.

100

USA Today Claudia Puig

A rich gem expertly told in a surprisingly scant 95 minutes.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A quiet movie, shaken from time to time by ripples of emotional turbulence far beneath the surface.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

If the scope of the film feels small, Girl With a Pearl Earring fills that scope to bursting with subtle glory. It takes things as far as they can -- and should -- go.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

If the scope of the film feels small, Girl With a Pearl Earring fills that scope to bursting with subtle glory. It takes things as far as they can -- and should -- go.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

This is an art film in spades.

Variety Todd McCarthy

An intelligent, visually ravishing adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's best-selling novel.

Entertainment Weekly 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.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Johansson, fittingly, is the focus. In her face, as in the faces of Vermeer's handful of captivating subjects, the viewer intuits whole stories and worlds.

Empire Natasha Aitken

one of the rare book adaptations that actually benefits from a visual makeover.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The most enchanting point about cinematographer Eduardo Serra work here is that he hasn't put Vermeer's painting into the film; he has put the film into Vermeer.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Even if Girl With a Pearl Earring is not nearly as remarkable dramatically as it is visually, it is, finally, a film of great beauty, and that is something worth appreciating.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

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.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Webber spins a slight but considerably enchanting tale of impossible romance and artistic discovery.

ReelViews 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.

Premiere Kelly Borgeson

The film is well-paced and surprisingly suspenseful.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Does an uncommonly good job of summoning all that goes into a masterpiece - erotic tension, financial considerations, even the sensual, elaborate grinding and mixing of paint colors as per 17th-century requirements.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

It isn't an exciting work of art so much as a contemplative reverie on the nature of art -- and what's wrong with a smart essay that unfolds like a sweet dream?

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

If movies were still silent, Girl With a Pearl Earring would be a near-masterpiece.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

There are certain rare movies that speak to us solely through the power and initiative of their visuals. This is one of them, and if you're receptive to this kind of movie, and know Vermeer's work, it's an unusually satisfying, even enriching experience.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Provocative.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Dancing on the edge of dullness, ''Girl'' is continually saved by the look of things: the hush of an atelier in midafternoon, dust-motes swirling in a sunbeam, pigment blooming under mortar and pestle. Impatience is forestalled, time and again, by rapture.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Near the end, when Griet puts on that earring and Johansson magically morphs into the figure on that canvas, you'll be knocked for a loop.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

It's beautiful to look at, and yet the story is strangely lacking; the novel's first chapter, available online at author Chevalier's Web site, tchevalier.com, seems to contain more plot points than the entire film.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The period detail is more vibrant than the minimal story.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

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.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Laughably predictable in its plotting, crude in its symbolism, ploddingly paced and often rendered almost comical by the heavy-breathing overacting of Johansson's supporting cast.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Girl With a Pearl Earring is really about watching paint dry. S l o w l y.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Unfolds as a series of meticulous tableaux vivants, but like those parlor pastimes, it lacks physical verve and a compelling emotional charge.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Webber's assured directing is evident throughout; in addition to eliciting strong performances from his cast, he always knows when to linger on an image and when to move on.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

What's the point of setting up a historical fantasia around an invented character if you're only going to make her part of the scenery?

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Eye caviar that doesn't pretend to be much else.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Pretty much the whole movie is a series of poses, static and uninvolving, except for cinematographer Eduardo Serra’s lighting, which makes everything look convincingly Vermeer-ish. I’d like to see what he could do with Rembrandt.

The New York Times 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.

Time Richard Schickel

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.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Webber's film offers painstaking reproductions of the town of Delft circa 1665 in all four seasons. That's just the problem: you feel every pain he took. Girl With a Pearl Earring is an art movie in the worst way.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

In filming this movie with such artistic precision, the movie ironically winds up objectifying Griet just as much as any appreciator of the original painting.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Richard M. gave it a9:
I thought the tension that was created in the book was expertally portrayed in the film, with Tracey Chevalier's messages coming through loud and clear.

Jo H. gave it a10:
This movie will take your breathe away. Definitely a piece of art in motion.

Mitch M. gave it an 8:
A fascinating glimpse at the stultifying life of the lowlands middle class, with carefully rendered details and a transcendent performance by Scarlett Johansson that is mesmerizing.

Pat C. gave it a 6:
A movie about a painting that has more life than the movie. I simply cannot believe it was that boring to be Dutch in the 1600s. Johansson is convincing as a supressed maid in a joyless stuck-up household. Almost mundane, but a must for appreciators of fine art, or those who might like to be. The one undeniable achievement of the film is its validation of Vermeer's masterpiece.

Luis gave it a 2:
The only good feature of this film would be the "Vermeer lighting", if it hadn't been used to excess. Beautiful effects, but too artificial. It may be evening, it may be morning or afternoon, it may be raining or snowing outside, no matter; there is still beautiful light streaming through the windows of the Vermeer house. Even at night, when the maid is using a lantern to light her way, her face gets beautiful side lighting. The effect is jarring. As for the plot and characters, they are clichés: the brooding, misunderstood artist, the shy but oh so smart maid who does understand Art, the artist's wife who does not understand Art, the tyrannical mother-in-law who, needless to say, doesn't understand Art either, and so on, and so forth. Writers and filmmakers should not try to substitute somebody else's--in this case Vermeer's--genius for their own lack of talent.

Donald O. gave it a 10:
A soft, inspired and delicately romantic film. It captures a special time, infuses it with unfulfilled, quiet passion, and seems to explain both the vision and motivation of an artist. Moreover, it poses questions in subtle ways that reveal themselves to viewers long after the credits roll. A splendid experience.

Marcus B. gave it a 10:
It's a telling sign that so many viewers are criticizing this movie for its slow pace or lack of "plot". Since when do films absolutely have to have fast paced, clear-cut storylines that even the bridge and tunnel crowd can follow? This is the antithesis to the cookie cutter storylines normally coming out of Hollywood. No car chases, no magically satisfying ending where all is neatly tied together (Americans do love their happy endings...), no emphasis on triumph of the spirit (the "I can do it if I apply myself" illusion). Just life.

Girl with a Pearl Earring Lions Gate Films Inc.

Girl with a Pearl Earring
Lions Gate Films Inc.