Girl with Earrings Pearl is a 2003 romantic drama directed by Peter Webber. This scenario was adapted by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed, based on Tracy Chevalier's novel Girl with a Pearl Earring . Scarlett Johansson served as Griet, a 17th-century young minister in the home of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (played by Colin Firth) as he painted the Girl with Earring Pearls (1665) in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. Other cast members include Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, and Judy Parfitt.
Hetreed read the novel before his publication, and his husband's production company convinced Chevalier to sell his movie rights. Initially, production was to feature Kate Hudson as Griet with Mike Newell directing. Hudson withdrew shortly before the filming began, however, and the film was placed in hiatus until hiring Webber, who restarted the casting process.
In his film debut, Webber sought to avoid the use of traditional characteristics from period dramas. In a 2003 interview with IGN, he said, "What I fear ends with something like the Masterpiece Theater , that Sunday Sunday is very polite, and I was determined to make something very different from that... "Cinematographer Eduardo Serra uses typical lighting and color schemes similar to Vermeer paintings.
Released on December 12, 2003 in North America and on January 16, 2004 in Great Britain, Girls with Earring Pearl earned a worldwide gross of $ 31.4 million. It garnered a largely positive critical reception, with a 72% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Critics generally praise the visuals and appearances of films while questioning the various elements of the story. The film was later nominated for ten UK Academy Film Awards, three Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Video Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)
Plot
Griet (Scarlett Johansson) is a shy girl who lived in the Republic of The Netherlands in 1665. Her father, a Delftware painter, recently became blind, made her unable to work and put her family in a dangerous financial situation. To help with the problem, Griet was sent to work as a housekeeper of the famous painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth). Griet worked hard, almost without words, at the lowest position in a hierarchy of hard, doing his best despite being maliciously treated by one of Vermeer's sons. While he was on a routine shopping trip outside the house, a butcher's son, Pieter (Cillian Murphy), notices Griet and falls in love with him, though he's slow to reciprocate his affection.
When Griet cleans the Vermeer studio, whose wife Catharina (Essie Davis) never enters, the painter starts talking to him and encourages the appreciation of paintings, light and color. Vermeer teaches him to mix paint and other tasks, keep this secret from his wife, who will react angrily and jealously if he knows that her husband is spending time with Griet. In contrast, Vuber's pragmatic mother, Maria Thins (Judy Parfitt), considers Griet useful for Vermeer's career.
Vermeer's rich patron Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) tells Griet about Vermeer's visit to the house and asks the painter whether he will hand it over to work in his own home, a situation that destroys his former maid. Vermeer refused, but agreed to paint Griet's portrait for Van Ruijven.
When Vermeer secretly worked on a replicating painting, Catharina could not help but notice something was wrong and her growing jealousy toward Griet became clear. When Griet dealt with his growing interest in Vermeer and his talent, he had to fend off Van Ruijven's attempts to rape him. Later, when Catharina came out for the day, her mother handed her daughter pearl earrings to Griet, and asked Vermeer to finish the painting. At the final painting session, Vermeer stabs Griet ear ear so he can wear one of the earrings for the portrait. Griet then ran to Pieter to be entertained. They stroked and made love in the stable, where Pieter proposed a marriage, but suddenly left. He then returned the earring to Catharina's mother.
Catharina finds that Griet uses her earrings, accuses her mother of involvement, and asks Vermeer to show her the portrait of Griet. Heartbroken that he did not think he deserved to be painted simply because he "did not understand", Catharina tried but failed to destroy the painting. He further drove Griet out of the house forever, which Vermeer did not mind, and let Griet go. Then, Griet was visited by the Vermeer house chef, who came to bring him a gift: the blue veil he wore on the painting, wrapped around Catharina's pearl earrings.
Maps Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)
Cast
Production
Development
Production of Girl with a Pearl Earring began in 1999, when screenwriter Olivia Hetreed gained access to Tracy Chevalier Girl's novel a Pearl Earring novel shortly before publication in August. The novel has not yet become a best-seller, but some groups are beginning to show interest. Hetreed loves the character of Griet and "... his determination to be free in a world where it is almost impossible for a girl from her background." The husband of Anand Tucker and Hetreed, Andy Paterson - both producers with the small studio of England Archer Street Films - approached the novelist, Tracy Chevalier, for a film adaptation. Chevalier agrees, believing that a British studio will help resist the impulse of Hollywood "... for movie sex." He determined that their adaptation avoids having a major character that perfects their relationship. Paterson and Tucker promised to "... imitate the 'emotional truth' of the story...," and Chevalier made no attempt to maintain control during the film's creative process, although he briefly considered adapting it himself.
Hetreed worked closely with Tucker and Webber to adapt the book, explaining that "... working with them in the draft helped me to concentrate on what the movie was, rather than how wonderful I was to create a line of work." His first draft was closest to the source of matter and slowly "... developed his own character..." through rewriting. He avoids using the voiceover, which is in the novel, "... partly because it would make him very literary." Instead, he focuses on visually communicating Griet's mind - for example, at Griet's adaptation and Vermeer checking the camera obscura together under his cloak amidst sexual tension; whereas, in the novel Griet see it himself immediately after him and enjoy the eternal warmth and aroma he left behind.
This novel maximizes some known facts from the life of Vermeer, which Hetreed describes as "... small pillars sticking out of the dust of history." To learn more about the artist, the screenwriter studied Dutch society in the 17th century, talked to artist friends about painting, and interviewed Victoria & The art historian Albert Museum has restored his original artwork. Hetreed remained in close contact with the Chevalier, and the two became very close towards the end of production so they presented a joint Master's class in scriptwriting.
Casting
Initially, American actress Kate Hudson acted as Griet, after successfully pursuing the role of the film producer. In September 2001, however, Hudson was pulled out four weeks before the filming began, officially due to "creative differences". Hudson's decision undermined production and led to a loss of financial support from Intermedia's production company. This also resulted in Mike Newell's withdrawal as director and Ralph Fiennes as Vermeer; Fiennes left the project to work on her 2002 movie Maid in Manhattan . Due to this incident, The Guardian reported that it "... now it seems unlikely the movie will be made."
Production resumed later that year when the producer hired an unknown British television director Peter Webber to lead the project, even though he had no previous film. Tucker and Paterson had known Webber of some previous projects; the director found the project by accident after visiting their office, where he saw the poster by Vermeer and began discussing it. Webber reads the script and describes it as "... about creativity and the link between art and money and power and sex in some weird, unholy mixture." Describing it as a "coming of age" story with an "intriguing dark flow," Webber deliberately did not read the book before the shoot, because he worried about being influenced by it, chose to depend on manuscripts and periods.
Griet's casting was Webber's first big move, and led to interviews with 150 girls before Webber chose 17-year-old actress Scarlett Johansson. He feels that he "... just stands up. He has something unique about himself." Johansson looks very modern to Webber, but he believes this is a positive attribute, realizing "... that what will work is to take this smart, passionate girl, and suppress it all." The actress finished filming Lost in Translation immediately before arriving at the set in Luxembourg, and consequently prepared little for the role. He considered the manuscript "beautifully written" and the character "very touching", but did not read the book because he thought it would be better to approach the story with a "clean sheet."
After hiring Johansson, another major casting decision soon followed, beginning with the addition of British actor Colin Firth as Vermeer. Firth and Webber, both of the same age and background, spent significant time discussing Vermeer's personality and lifestyle in the period leading up to the beginning of filming. While examining the role, Firth realizes that Vermeer "is very elusive as an artist." Consequently, unlike Webber and Johansson, Firth chose to read the book to gain a better understanding of a man with little information in his personal life. Firth tries to "discover" the character and finds his motivation, and finally identifies with the artist for having a private space in the midst of a busy family. Firth also studied painting techniques and visited the museum that carries the work of Vermeer.
After Firth, Webber's next casting decision was Tom Wilkinson as protector Pieter van Ruijven, who was employed in late 2002. He soon joined Judy Parfitt as Vermeer's dominant mother-in-law, and Essie Davis, who plays Vermeer's wife, Catharina. The daughter of an Australian artist Davis does not believe that her character is the "evil guy" of the film, because "... [Catharina] has a certain role to play so you want Griet and Vermeer involved." Cillian Murphy, known for her recent roles in 28 Days Later , was hired as Pieter, Griet butcher's love interest. Murphy, taking on the role of his first period film, is interested in serving as a foil to Firth's Vermeer, and represents the "ordinary" world Griet wants to avoid when meeting the artist. Other cast members include Joanna Scanlan as Tanneke's assistant, as well as young actresses Alakina Mann and Anna Popplewell as the daughters of Vruser, Cornelia and Maertge, respectively.
Filming
During preproduction, Webber and cinematographer Eduardo Serra studied the artwork of the period and discussed the various ambitions they wanted to create for each scene. The director is the lover of the Stanley Kubrick period drama Barry Lyndon, but knows that Girl With a Pearl Earring will be different; unlike previous films "... complicated and expensive pieces...", Webber's production is "... about intimate relationships in one household." He is not looking to make a historically accurate biographical film of Vermeer; Webber seeks to direct period films that avoid being "too enslaved" for genre characteristics, wanting to "... turn on the movie..." and have the audience "... can almost smell the meat in the market." Webber uses a little dialogue and gets inspired from the world "... calm, tense, mysterious, transcendent..." from Vermeer's paintings. The director also consciously attempts to slow the pace of the film, hoping that by "... slowing things down [we can] create these moments between emotionally charged and increasingly similar to the condition of the paintings Vermeer and getting closer seemed to grasp some sort of truth. "
The film was budgeted for Ã, Â £ 10 million. Although it is set in Delft, the film is mainly taken in Amsterdam, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Chevalier later commented that Webber and Serra "... needed absolute control over the space and light they were working on - something they could never achieve by blocking the busy Delft road for an hour or two." Only a few exterior shots are filmed in Delft.
Webber hired Ben van Os as his designer of production because "... he was not intimidated by the obligations of the period he was more interested in stories and characters." For inspiration in building movie sets, Webber and van Os studied the works of Vermeer and other artists of the time, such as Gerard ter Borch. Set designer Todd van Hulzen says his aim is to "... reflect the calm, calm, almost moral ethos that you see in Dutch paintings." They built Vermeer's house in one of the biggest film soundstages in Luxembourg, a three-story set where they designed a room intended to convey a lack of privacy. According to van Os, the film was about "observed," so they meant Griet to always feel that he was being watched. In addition, they built two other interior sets to represent Griet houses and van Ruijven - Griet houses that had Calvinistic features while van Ruijven contained animals mounted to reflect the "natural predators." The Mauritshuis Museum creates high-resolution photos of actual paintings, which are then shot in the pulpit cameras for use in films.
According to Webber, Serra "... obsessed with reproducing the use of extraordinary light by artists during that period, and especially the use of Vermeer." To reflect the magical "luminosity" of Vermeer artwork, Serra uses scattered lighting and stocks of different films while filming scenes in the artist studio. Webber and Serra do not want to rely too much on Vermeer's aesthetics, however; they want the audience to go focus their praise on the story, not the visuals.
Design and makeup costumes
In a desire to avoid stereotypes from costume dramas, Webber costumed his actor in a simple outfit he called the "Prada period," rather than using ruffles and loose costumes common to the era. The goal is to "... take the original clothes of the period and reduce them to their essence." Costume designer Dien van Straalen explores the London and Dutch markets to look for period fabrics, including curtains and slipcovers. For Griet, Van Straalen employs "... a pale color for Scarlett Johansson to give her the dull look of a poor servant girl." Firth also comes with a simple, because Vermeer is not rich. Van Straalen creates a more elaborate costume for Wilkinson, because van Ruijven is his "... a peacock pacing the money."
Jenny Shircore's makeup designer and hair wants Griet to perform without make-up, so Johansson is given very little; Instead, Shircore focuses on maintaining the actress's skin as "... like milk, thick and thick...," and whitens her eyebrows. They gave Davis as Catharina "... a very simple Dutch hairstyle...," which they learned from studying the drawings and prints of that period.
Music
The music score for Girl with a Pearl Earring was written by French composer Alexandre Desplat. Webber decided to hire Desplat after hearing the score he made for the movie Jacques Audiard. Webber explains: "He has a sense of restraint and a sense of lyricism that I like, I remember the first time I saw a gesture where Griet opened the window, he really described what light was doing, articulating it within the scope of music." especially for printing movies in his native language.
Scores using strings, pianos, and woodwinds, with a central theme featuring various instrumental forms. Desplat creates repeated melodies throughout the film, stating in later interviews that "... it evolved and it was much more flowing with a very gentle, haunting theme." His scores, his career breakthrough, gained international attention and gave him further film projects. Soundtrack was released in 2004; was awarded a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, helping to increase the name recognition of Desplat in Hollywood.
Desplat works also get positive reviews. The New York Times describes it as a "... beautiful score..." that "... brushes in the dreadful darkness that gives a pictorial life where nothing seems to be...," while Boston.com says it "... smoldering with an elegant baroque minimalist." Empire the magazine calls its score "... a very elegant work..." that "... creates a charming atmosphere of emotion and wonder, the true highlight is 'Color in the Cloud', so great that it really captures the essence of the story. "
Editing
For the sake of shortening adaptations, about a third of the stories are finally edited out; all subplots and characters are deleted. Before becoming a screenwriter, Hetreed works as an editor, and recognizes this experience as knowing "... about the structure and what you need to say and what you can leave behind, I am excited to leave everything behind." He focuses the story on the relationship between Griet and Vermeer, deciding what other story lines are "... distracting and should be thrown in. Before editing, there are great things there, but Peter is incredibly cruel." The change from the novel did not disturb the Chevalier, who felt that as a result, the film earned "... a focussed, motivated, visual plot."
Theme and analysis
According to Webber, Girls with Earrings Pearls is "... more than just a weird little movie about art..." but relates to the theme of money, sex, oppression, obsession, power, and human heart. Laura M. Sager Eidt in her book, Writing and Filming Paintings: Extrasitions in Literature and Film , confirms that the film deviates significantly from source material and emphasizes "... a finer socio-political dimension within novel. " Girls with Earring Pearls , Sager Eidt says,"... shifted his focus from the consciousness of a young girl who progressed to class and power relationships in the story. "
In his work, British filmmaking: The Making of British Cultural Film Since the 1990s, author Andrew Higson notes that the film overcomes this novel's "subjective narrative" device by keeping the camera firmly in Griet for most films. But, Higson said, "... no effort is made to actually make his point of view as the viewpoint of the movie or audience."
Vermeer channeled Griet's sexual consciousness into his painting, with his ears pierced and his direction toward poses that were inherently sexual. In the opinion of psychologist Rosemary Rizq, Griet don pearl is a metaphor, something that would normally convey wealth and status. But, when worn by Griet pearls is also a landing to the audience to see "... the psychological potential in..." his erotic ties that do not fit Vermeer, are not clear up to that point if it is real or not.
The film combines seven Vermeer paintings into the story. Thomas Leitch, in his book The Movie Adaptation and Dissatisfaction: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ, writes that while Chevalier's Griet describes ten Vermeer paintings (without naming them), the Webber movie avoids ".. shows [the outside world] that looks like a series of Vermeer paintings..., "because this would be a trivial thing from artist achievement. Leitch added the director "... a compromise by showing much less actual Vermeer painting than the one depicted by Chevalier, Griet, but kept lingering over the visual details of the studio where he created it."
Release
box office
Girl With a Pearl Earring ' s world premiere took place at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2003. In North America it is distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment. The film was limited in release to seven theaters on December 12, 2003, landing in 32nd place for a week with $ 89,472. Lions Gate slowly increased its release to the top of 402 theaters on February 6, 2004. Its domestic gross total was $ 11,670,971.
The film was released in the UK on January 16, 2004 by PathÃÆ'Â © Films. In its opening week, the film finished in tenth place with a total Ã, 384,498 pounds from 106 theaters. In England and Ireland, the film finished in 14th place for the year with a gross box office total of £ 3.84 million. It has a worldwide gross of $ 31,466,789.
Home media
In the US, DVD With a Pearl Earring was released on May 4, 2004 by Lions Gate. The 2nd Regional DVD release on May 31, 2004 includes audio comments from Webber, Paterson, Hetreed, and Chevalier; featurette on "The Art of Filmmaking"; and eight deleted scenes.
Reception
The aggregate reviewers Rotten Tomatoes calculated a 72% approval rating based on reviews from 175 critics, with an average score of 6.9/10. The website reported a critical consensus as visual capture, but the story can be said with a little more energy. "The critical acceptance of Girl With a Pearl Earring is mixed, with reviewers positively emphasizing the visuals and appearances of the film while questioning the elements of the story.Historian Alex von Tunzelmann, writing for The Guardian , praised the movie for "fancy design and incredible Vermeerish appearance" but felt that "it was too much like watching a dry paint. "In The Observer, Philip French calls this film" calm, smart and good acting "and believes that" most people will be impressed by, and carried away in their minds, this film looks... [Serra , van Os, and van Strallen] have given this film a beauty that makes itself conscious. "
The BBC's review, written by Susan Hodgetts, describes the film as "a superior British costume drama expertly incorporating art history with romantic fiction," which will appeal to "anyone who likes serious, intelligent drama and soft, erotic tension." Hodgetts says that both Firth and Johansson provide "amazing" performances that perform "great work of expressing feelings and emotions without using much dialogue, and the picture is better for that." Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times referred to the film as "a genuine and clear melodrama devoid of souls, filled with a longing silence that comes after sighing." But Mitchell praised his cinematography, production design, and musical score, as did Erica Abeel,
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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