Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 film directed by Peter Webber, based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier. It stars Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, and explores the creation of the famous painting by Vermeer.

The film garnered numerous awards both in the States and abroad. They include three Academy Award nominations, a Best Photography Oscar, and two Golden Globes for Best Actress and Best Score. In England, it won a London Critics Circle Film Award and a British Independent Film Award, both for Best Actress.

Tropes used in Girl with a Pearl Earring (film) include:
  • Actor Allusion: Colin Firth in St Trinian's jokes about the painting.
    • Not to mention that his character was right to want to shag the titular model.
    • May also be considered Celebrity Paradox as there were many references to Colin Firth's previous works in St Trinian's.
  • Attempted Rape: Van Ruijven to Griet
  • Cillian Murphy: A vegetarian actor ironically cast as a butcher.
  • Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: Griet does this a lot.
  • Hands-On Approach: Johannes Vermeer attempts to teach Griet to grind paints by placing his large manly Dutch Master hands over hers, totally obliterating the proper social barriers between them —- she gets pretty flustered.
  • Hollywood Science: A case of artistic perception of housework. Anyone doing their chores as slowly as Griet would never get anything done. A good example is cleaning windows scene, where Griet starts cleaning a whole wall of windows so slowly and meticulously it would probably take her a whole day to clean them all in Real Life.
  • Lonely Piano Piece: The incidental music is incredibly sparing and this is virtually the only motif used in the entire film.
  • Person with the Clothing
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Vermeer and Griet.
  • Wall-Bang Her: Pieter and Griet.
  • What Beautiful Eyes!: Scarlett Johansson plays Griet, and her bright green eyes are shown often in close up. They really are very beautiful eyes, to be honest.