I recently watched the DVD of “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (2003). Directed by Peter Webber, who recently directed “Hannibal Rising”, the movie tells the story of a young woman, a girl really who served as the model for the famous Vermeer painting of the same name.
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Scarlett Johansson plays Griet who comes to the Vermeer household as a servant. Assigned to clean Vermeer’s studio she quickly becomes Vermeer’s assistant. She naturally feels attracted to his work, and the light Vermeer tries to capture. She asks him about the techniques he uses to both paint and create the colors he uses. Of course the friendship between the two concerns Vermeer’s wife Catharina, played by Essie Davis, and his mother-in-law Maria Thins, wonderfully played by Judy Parfitt (look for my review of the wonderful file “The Couple.”
