Beauty inspires obsession.
Scarlett as: Griet
Genre(s): Biography | Drama | Romance
Written by: Olivia Hetreed
Directed by: Peter Webber
Other Cast: Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt, Cillian Murphy
Release Date: December 12, 2003
Production Budget: –
Total Worldwide Gross: $31.4m
Filming Locations: Delft, Netherlands
Girl with a Pearl Earring unravels the mystery behind one of Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer’s greatest and most enigmatic paintings. Seventeen year-old Griet is forced by family tragedy to become a maid for the Vermeer family. As intimacy grows between master and servant, disruption and jealousy spread within the ordered household and beyond, fuelling a scandal which threatens to ruin them all.
Production Info
Filmed in the winter of 2002. Just ten days prior to the start of production, Scarlett had wrapped Lost in Translation.
Almost all of the actors wore wigs. When Scarlett’s arrived a couple of days before shooting, it had the wrong color and texture.
The film was originally slated to star Kate Hudson and Ralph Fiennes and be directed by Mike Newell. Hudson pulled out during pre-production (allegedly because she refused to wear a wimple for the role), which resulted in funding being pulled, and by the time new funding was secured, Newell had to move on to another project. After a director search, Peter Webber was tapped for the job and held auditions for a new female lead. He settled on Kirsten Dunst, who then dropped the project in wake of Spider-Man’s success. At this point, Fiennes had been waiting so long that he too had to move on to other scheduled projects, and so too became unavailable. Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth were then cast.
Although Vermeer and the painting both are real historic figures, the screenplay is based on Tracy Chevalier’s novel and therefore largely fictional or hypothetical. Only 36 Vermeer paintings are known to exist today, and none of the models have ever been positively identified. A poster of the painting in her bedroom inspired Chevalier to write her own version of how it came to exist based on the framework of Vermeer’s known history. Chevalier sold the film rights and opted not to have any involvement in the film or screenplay, although after its release said she was pleased with the results.
The movie was partially shot on the Venice set that had been built in Luxembourg for Secret Passage. For this movie Venice was modified to become Delft.
The painting shown when Griet goes to visit Pieter Van Ruijven is called The Girl with the Wine Glass.
The painting that Griet inspired Vermeer to paint while she is washing the window of his studio is called ‘Woman with a Water Jug’. It is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY.
A subplot with David Morrissey as a friend of Vermeer was dropped during editing of the film. None of his scenes feature on the DVD release.
Character Quotes
Master, I did not do it. Help me.
You shouldn’t believe gossip.
I am only a maid, but I would never give in to Master van Ruijven.
I’ve seen you paint with no-one there.
You looked inside me.
Griet: About the studio, mistress. Should I clean the windows?
Catharina: You don’t need to ask me about such matters.
Griet: It’s just… it may change the light.
Pieter: Where is that smile you owe me when I have been so clever as to track you down?
Griet: You had nothing better to do.
Pieter: Please let me see your hair. What color is it?
Griet: Brown.
Pieter: Straight or curly?
Griet: Neither.
Vermeer: Look at the clouds. What color are they?
Griet: White. No. No, not white. Yellow. Blue and grey. There are colors in the clouds.
Vermeer: Why did you move the chair?
Griet: She looked trapped.
Vermeer: Take off your cap.
Griet: No, sir. I cannot.
Vermeer: Cannot?
Griet: I will not.
Quoting: Scarlett Johansson
On her character: A servant’s life was hard labour, and Griet was also trying to cope with new raw emotions. We first see her at home, which she doesn’t want to leave, but she has to and is immediately out of her element. She has no privacy – Vermeer’s wife Catharina is vicious and unrelenting; the other maid is resentful; Maria Thins is always watching her; and Vermeer lurks in his studio, refusing to engage with the rest of the household. At the same time her relationship with her home is changing – she is torn between two lives.
On her character: Colin’s [Firth] character and I, we have a different relationship. We don’t need each other. We want each other. You think that my character could survive anything. She could survive another world war. She’s so strong. Vermeer does not help her come unscathed out of the household. It’s her inner strength that does. It’s not a conscious decision.
On Griet’s attraction to Vermeer: She’s a servant. She’s a maid. She’s taking care of the cooking and the cleaning and the rearing of the children—all of those things which would be her job—as well as the model in the end. She’s forced into that seat. However, it became more apparent to me, the more we filmed, how completely in love I was falling with Colin as the Vermeer character. It became more and more apparent to me that the Vermeer character was this untouchable mysterious man, this genius, and my character was completely longing and obsessive and in love with this man.
On Griet and Vermeer’s relationship: Their relationship becomes tender, through their mutual involvement in his paintings. With Vermeer she tastes a kind of passion that is beyond her comprehension, and casts a shadow on her previous life.
On Griet and Vermeer’s relationship: In the scene when I saw the Vermeer and Catharina characters together, caressing each other, I was physically pained, in my heart, by that. I definitely think that the love affair for me was the most apparent relation between the two characters. The maid and the model are things that come along with the circumstance, but the other is not physical.
On Vermeer’s attraction to Griet: I think that Vermeer sees in Griet not only her physical attraction [to him] but foremost I think he’s attracted to her mind and she’s certainly the first woman he’s ever encountered that shares this artistic eye. And she’s this simple girl, this simple housemaid, and somebody who’s curious about his work and his process.
On Griet and Pieter’s relationship: Griet is becoming involved with Pieter, the son of the market butcher. He is a tradesman, goes to Church every Sunday and offers an enticingly simple way of life that is familiar to her. He offers a mutual courtship that she could so easily slip into, if she had not met Vermeer. With the painter she tastes a kind of passion that is beyond her comprehension, and casts a shadow on her previous life.
On her attraction to the script: It is so rare that you read anything that is worth the time it takes to get through it. This stood out – it was glinting. Every actor dreams of the chance to play a role like Griet – a character with such repression that you are using your face and not your words to convey emotions.
On her attraction to the role: I hadn‘t read the book; I made a conscious effort not to peek at it. We had it on set; it was pretty tempting. What drew me—and a lot of young actresses were excited—was that it was an incredible opportunity to play such an amazing part. It‘s so rare that you have such a beautifully crafted script with a young girl carrying the film. It was very desirable and I knew right after I read it I could do it. I just had to convince Peter [Webber, Director] and Andy [Paterson, Producer].
On how audiences will connect to the film: The raw emotion of a girl who is in love and not able to express it is universal, because very often you can’t have what you love.
On the painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring: She is strange and intriguing. I felt she was just about to do something which would tell us more about her and her life.
On the advantages of a European production: It would be completely hellish to have the pressure of putting on a Hollywood ending, or putting in a scene where Vermeer sees Griet washing her breasts.
On working with Colin Firth: Colin kept saying I looked like a peeled egg. He also said I looked like a Q-Tip. He’d stick little Q-Tips with happy faces on them up on our makeup mirror.
Quoting: Cast and Crew
Director Peter Webber: She is an astounding actress for her age. She’s got such maturity. She looks like a real person, as well. She’s not like one of these ridiculous skinny anorexic waifs. Scarlett is just passionate, committed, intense, clever, and a great, great actress who can reveal what she’s thinking on her face. That’s what we needed for the role. She has got this incredible engine. I just felt, if I’m going to take a girl and repress her, put her in a situation where she’s not allowed to be herself, you want somebody’s who’s going to have the energy that will leak out. I don’t know anyone else who can do the amount of storytelling she can in her close-up. Her thoughts just run across her eyes. That’s really important, in a film where there’s precious little dialogue.
Director Peter Webber: Scarlett has been working in this business longer than I have, and although she is young in years she has an old soul. She has a force of character and a face that you don’t often see on screen these days – she is hypnotic to watch, like a silent movie star. I never saw anyone else apart from Scarlett who could do the role. Having seen her audition, she completely blew me away.
Producer Andy Paterson: When we approached the Mauritshuis, the owners of the painting, they were supportive of the project, and of course thrilled that in Scarlett we had an actress who embodied the girl in the painting.
Co-star Colin Firth: I think she’s extraordinary. She was 17 years old when she started this job and she is one of my favorite actors that I have ever worked with. One of the things that throw you slightly when you are in your early forties is to work with someone who is that young and actually probably, as experienced as you are because she’s been doing it that long. So there was a lot of the ‘old soul’ in her and she offered unbelievable energy. She was able to keep up with the workload and she had just come off a really difficult schedule and came right into this.
Co-star Colin Firth: She’s quite committed to what she does. I think she’s exceptional. Her resemblance to the model in the painting is remarkable. Scarlett has a Scandinavian background, so she is not a million miles away. She is very fair skinned, and she bleached out her eyebrows. She wore no makeup, just white. She showed a lack of vanity.
Author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier: It’s a very visual book, and a very visual film. Griet does a lot of watching, and very little talking. Scarlett plays it perfectly.
Critical Response
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: From Manny and Lo and Ghost World to Lost in Translation, in which she holds her own with the great Bill Murray, Johansson blends beauty, passion and wit with the innate grace of a born star. Her talents certainly light up Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Todd McCarthy, Variety: The prevailing hallmark of Johansson’s superb performance, which could be considered worthy of great silent film acting, is that her Griet is always holding something in reserve, an innate intelligence and sense of mystery that eventually intrigue Vermeer and severely threaten the latter’s wife.
Claudia Puig, USA Today: It’s a measure of the mesmerizing power of Girl With a Pearl Earring and the flawless performances of Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson that audiences feel as if they are spying on a moment of artistic inspiration when painter Vermeer creates the title work.
Ty Burr, The Boston Globe: Johansson keeps you constantly apprised of the feelings swimming far below Griet’s placid face; it’s a performance as rigorously internal as Charlotte in “Lost in Translation” was a helpless mess. Between those two roles, Johansson is in danger of turning into Our Damsel of the Unconsummated Relationship, but I can’t think of any other actor who can be so yearning yet so withholding.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Johansson, with a white cap covering her hair, appears to be nothing but milky skin, overripe lips, and shy, all-seeing orbs: an image of uninterrupted sensuality. The actress gives a nearly silent performance, yet the interplay on her face of fear, ignorance, curiosity, and sex is intensely dramatic.
James Christopher, The Times: Johansson is the shapely marvel: she barely speaks a word, yet the entire drama is quietly frozen on her face.
Awards and Nominations
Below is a list of all accolades Scarlett has received for her role in the film.
NOMINATED: British Academy Film Awards – Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
NOMINATED: British Independent Film Awards – Best Actress
NOMINATED: Golden Globes – Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Drama
NOMINATED: London Critics Circle Film Awards – Actress of the Year
NOMINATED: Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards – Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
WON: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards – New Generation Award (also for Lost in Translation)
WON: Palm Springs International Film Festival – Rising Star Award (also for Lost in Translation)
WON: Sant Jordi Awards – Best Foreign Actress (also for Lost in Translation)