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Parents' Guide to

Girl with a Pearl Earring

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Older teens and adults will enjoy, but the book is better.

Movie PG-13 2003 99 minutes
Girl with a Pearl Earring Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 14+

Based on 3 parent reviews

markegiani
markegiani Parent of 9 and 11-year-old
August 5, 2020
age 14+

For art fans

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much sex
crankylibrarian
crankylibrarian Parent
January 3, 2014
age 12+

Why bother?

Snore. Great book, but I can't see many teens being captivated by this overly reverent adaptation, unless they want to gape at Scarlett Johansson. Watching Vermeer's paint dry would be more entertaining.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Based on Tracy Chevalier's novel about the girl wearing a pearl earring in a portrait by artist Johannes Vermeer, this film tells the story of Griet (Scarlett Johansson). The young girl is hired as a maid to the chaotic Vermeer household, where everything depends on the productivity of an artist who works very slowly and the whims of a patron who may be more interested in the model than the paintings. Griet wears the nun-like head covering of the era that hides her hair. She does what she is told and keeps to herself. But she notices things, like that she should not wash the windows in Vermeer's studio because it will change the look of the light he is trying to capture. Vermeer (Colin Firth), not a person of words either, responds to the way she responds to the art. He asks her to help him mix his paints and shows her some of his painting techniques. His patron, Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), is drawn to Griet. And since his interest is vital to the survival of the Vermeer family, Vermeer's steely mother-in-law (Judy Parfitt) will do anything she can to keep him happy.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (2 ):

The gorgeously filmed GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING is a commentary on artistic imperatives, the creative process, and the way we look at things. And power, money, and sex. The movie superbly captures the shadows and lights of Vermeer's Delft. Johannson's face is as complex and haunting as the portrait of the anonymous girl she portrays. She is a marvel of delicate expression. When at last she removes her headdress and we see her hair it is almost unbearably intimate and erotic.

But the movie is less successful at addressing some of the issues it raises about the other members of the household, including the clashes of art and commerce, sex and power, master and servant, parent and child. Griet's resolution of her situation is clumsily handled, almost an afterthought. Perhaps the ultimate clash is between book and movie. Vermeer himself would understand the way that the images overpower the ideas. At the end, after being teased and seduced, we are at last allowed to gaze on the famous portrait itself, still more fascinating and more complete than any attempt to build upon it.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why Griet makes the choices she does and how in real life the painting made centuries earlier inspired the imagination of a writer to come up with this story.

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