Girl with a Pearl Earring

Just watched Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Every Scarlett Johansson film I've seen I've liked (though The Island was a little weak. I intend to see all of her films. At the rate I'm watching them vs the rate she's making them, I'm never going to make it. She has SIX under contract right now and 27 more that she's already done!

Great!

I liked North (her first and a small part), and The Island, and I loved Lost In Translation, Match Point, Love Song for Bobby Long. And no, its not just because she's beautiful. She is compelling to look at, but I've studied and drawn enough faces to know that her face is wrong in some way. This I think, makes her even more compelling. Forget the cannon of beauty. Marilyn Monroe didn't fit it either. My own theory is two fold on this. The first is that what is inside is what compels us. The second - that we can't stop looking at the 'wrong' faces (at least the ones that are pleasing)BECAUSE we want to 'finish' them, to perfect them.

IN Girl with a Pearl Earring, a patron of the arts declares her eyes are wide apart. Maybe that's it! This story is about a real painting, was the girl in the painting 'wrong'? Or did they add that because of the way Scarlett looks?

I want to talk about the movie for a bit. The look of it is spellbinding. Time and time again the movie looks like a painting! Clothing, background and windows are lit just as they are in so many of those Dutch masters' paintings. The film stops, and looks. It is filmed almost like a series of still photos. Morning light is white and clean. Evening light is warm and ambient. Shadows are harsh or smooth and take on almost a character quality. We learn about color, light and composition. We feel it.

Which brings me to my next point. Dialogue is sparse. The look of the play is overshadowed only by the looks of the actors as they convey in expressions what is so limited in language. All of this makes it subtle and the subtlety makes it wonderful.

Yes there is metaphor and imagery. And there is Scarlett (and a fine supporting cast). But we love Scarlett not only for her compelling features, but her subtle portrayal of a girl in a confined controlled life. A girl without power but who cannot be limited completely. She perceives her own confinement and life's restrictions. Limited and capable, victim and conqueror, her light ultimately can't be confined forever. The light of that life remains in a real painting. And Scarlett's light ... blah blah sentimental stuff. You get it. She's great. Watch this film.

She's a winning actress and I'm going to see all of her films.

I can't wait!