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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

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Released 6-Oct-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Menu Audio
Audio Commentary-Director And Producer
Audio Commentary-Author And Screenwriter
Featurette-Making Of
Deleted Scenes-With Optional Commentary
Featurette-Anatomy Of A Scene
Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2003
Running Time 95:52
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (50:52) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Peter Webber
Studio
Distributor
Pathe Pictures
Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Colin Firth
Scarlett Johansson
Tom Wilkinson
Judy Parfitt
Cillian Murphy
Essie Davis
Joanna Scanlan
Alakina Mann
Chris McHallem
Gabrielle Reidy
Rollo Weeks
Anna Popplewell
Anaïs Nepper
Case Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI $39.95 Music Alexandre Desplat


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Due to having small children and therefore a limited ability to get to the cinema, my wife and I missed this film during its theatrical showing despite having a particular desire to see it. Accordingly, I was pleased to be able to review this DVD.

    Girl with a Pearl Earring is a fictional story based around the life and paintings of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth), one of the Dutch masters. Vermeer is a very well known artist who lived from 1632 to 1675 in Delft, Holland. This film is based upon a novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier which weaves a story around how one of his paintings may have come about. The painting in question also has the same name and is one of Vermeer's most famous works.

    The film follows the story of a young girl, Griet (Scarlett Johansson), who is forced to become a maid in the Vermeer household when her father is injured and can no longer work. She comes from a strict Puritan background and the world of the painter and his friends is completely foreign to her. Vermeer's family are a difficult group to fit in with and include his neurotic and generally unpleasant wife, Catharina (Essie Davis), his penny pinching and overbearing mother-in-law, Maria Thins (Judy Parfitt) and his children, lead by the obnoxious Cornelia (Alakina Mann). The one person who shows her some initial warmth is the housekeeper, Tanneke (Joanna Scanlan). Griet slowly begins a relationship with the master of the house, Vermeer, who notices her because of her keen interest in and understanding of his art. He begins to get her involved in his work, either mixing colours for him from the raw materials or introducing her to his various techniques and interests. Slowly, an affection of sorts grows between them. He protects her from his family's jealousies and the lecherous advances of his patron, Van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson) and then decides to make her the subject of one of his paintings. She also develops a romantic relationship with the son of the local butcher, Pieter (Cillian Murphy).

    The real story here is Vermeer's growing interest in Griet and the closeness of their relationship, even though it is platonic. The scene of them mixing colours together is more sensuous than many sex scenes in other movies. He admires her interest in colours and light and she is entranced by his paintings. This is enhanced by the beautiful cinematography and lighting by Eduardo Serra, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, along with the art directors and costume designer. This is generally a very lush and beautiful production, and Scarlett Johansson is very good as the young maid. One excellent device used regularly is the recreation of works of the Dutch masters in painting form, and additionallyo some of the scenes are set out in such a way as to look like other Vermeer works and works of other artists of the same period.

    The novelist was heavily involved in the production, although the screenplay was written by someone else, and it would seem that the film generally sticks fairly close to its source material.

    The only minor criticism I would have of this film is that it is somewhat lacking in exposition which means that sometimes character's motivations are not clear and things occur which are not necessarily consistent with earlier scenes. Interestingly, one of the deleted scenes from early in the film solved a number of these issues in my mind and at least some of it should have been included in my opinion. The filmmakers, however, make it clear in the commentary that it was their intention to leave some things for the audience to work out for themselves.

    This is a film for lovers of beautiful atmospheric cinema, fans of the book or of the Dutch masters.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality is disappointing for a recent high-profile film.

    The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was disappointing, lacking in clarity and sharpness, despite there being no evidence of low level noise. The main problem was MPEG grain which was constant and fairly distracting in some scenes. One spot which was particularly bad is at 52:25.Generally, the image was also slightly soft. The shadow detail was good but not spectacular although this may have been related to the choices of lighting made by the cinematographer.

    The colour was reasonable however it seemed slightly dull to me and considering the lushness of the sets and costumes this is a shame.

    There were a significant number of film artefacts throughout the film, more than you would expect in a new release film. These mostly consisted of specks of either black or white. They were worst at approximately 50:30.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. They were clear and easy to read.

    The layer change occurs at 50:52 and causes a noticeable pause.
    

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good, bordering on excellent.

    This DVD contains two audio options, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and an English Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s. For those that have not encountered them before a descriptive audio track involves the addition of a voiceover describing all activity taking place on the screen for the benefit of the sight impaired.

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand, however there were some words which required the subtitles to make out. There was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by Alexandre Desplat is magnificent; rich, moving and dramatic. This is one of the best scores I have reviewed. It adds significantly to the atmosphere of the film.

    The surround speakers added some mild directional effects such as thunder and babies crying. Additionally, they added atmosphere to what was quite an immersive soundtrack 

     The subwoofer added nicely integrated bass to the movie as required, although obviously, in a movie of this type, loud explosions and other significant LFE effects are non-existent.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu

    The menu included a nice intro, some of the wonderful score, and scenes from the film. The menus were clear and easy to use.

Making of (13:40)

    A reasonably short but worthwhile making of documentary featuring interviews with the major cast and crew. Topics covered include the detail they went to to ensure that the mixing of paint colours was accurate, difficulties of filming in winter and the various locations used including the actual town of Delft.

Deleted Scenes

    8 deleted scenes are included here which is only a small part of what must be available as the director mentions that the first cut ran for over 3 hours! There are some interesting scenes included here, and some elements of the scenes could have been left in the film. They would have made some parts of the film clearer. They are presented in 4x3 widescreen with the original on-set audio. Optional Director's commentary is available which explains why the scenes were cut. In detail, the scenes are:

Anatomy of a Scene (23:57)

    An in-depth look at the banquet scene and its various elements including writing, acting, editing, music, set design and other factors. I have seen these featurettes on a  number of DVDs and they are generally well made and this is no exception.

Commentary - Director Peter Webber, Producer Andy Paterson

    This is a good scene-specific commentary track and shows these men to have personality, a sense of humour and many interesting anecdotes to tell. One of the better commentary tracks I have listened to. This one focuses on the business of making the film including sets, lighting, cinematography and the animals!

Commentary - Novelist Tracy Chevalier, Scriptwriter Olivia Hetreed

    Another quality commentary track this time focusing on how the novel was turned into a screenplay, differences between the novel and the screenplay and how good looking the male cast members are. Not quite as good as the first commentary track but still interesting and worthwhile to listen to.

UK Theatrical Trailer (1:54)

    A top quality trailer which really evokes the feel and quality of the film. Presented with 5.1 sound.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 4 & Region 2 versions of this disc miss out on;

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

   The Region 4 and Region 2 discs are the same. Reviews I have read of both Region 2 & Region 1 criticise the graininess of the transfer, so there is no differentiation there. Therefore, on the basis of the extras the winner is clearly either the Region 2 or Region 4 disc. I will go for Region 4.

Summary

    A beautiful and atmospheric film about the Dutch master, Johannes Vermeer, and one of his most famous subjects.

    The video quality is disappointing.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The disc has a good selection of quality extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Friday, October 29, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output
DisplaySony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC).
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-511
SpeakersBose 201 Direct Reflecting (Front), Phillips SB680V (Surround), Phillips MX731 (Center), Yamaha YST SW90 (Sub)

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