You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a
Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke
the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie
centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose
creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays
Griet, a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth, Bridget
Jones' Diary, Fever Pitch), who finds herself in a web of jealousy, artistic
inspiration, and social machinations. Though the pace is slow, Girl with a
Pearl Earring genuinely conveys some sense of an artist's process, as well
as offering many chaste yet sensual moments between Firth and
Johansson. Also featuring Essie Davis as Vermeer's bitter wife and Tom
Wilkinson (In the Bedroom) as a wealthy patron with eyes for Griet.