Girl with a Pearl Earring

SYNOPSIS

British director Peter Webber makes an astonishing feature debut with this ravishing period drama. Based on a bestselling novel by Tracy Chevalier, it's a fictionalised reconstruction of the story behind 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer's celebrated painting Girl with a Pearl Earring. Following her outstanding turn in Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson cements her golden girl status with a heartbreakingly brilliant portrayal of Vermeer's housemaid and eventual muse. Inadvertently drawn to the secretive artist (a brooding Colin Firth), she finds head and heart colliding to costly effect. Though a work of fiction, the exquisite tale feels authentic thanks to the strong central performances and a naturalistic script that avoids tawdry melodrama. Instead, the film's considerable emotional and erotic power comes from expectation and electric flashes of intimacy, with one look from Johansson enough to convey a thousand words. The cinematography is equally intoxicating, transforming every detailed frame into a richly coloured tableau vivant, while Alexandre Desplat's beautiful score adds extra intensity.