Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) - Production prevails in flawed Vermeer biopic

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Sensual, carnal lust issues from this steamy poster for Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer is a prominent artist in the Netherlands in 1655, but he works too slowly, and now his new housemaid catches his wandering eye.

 

Girl with a Pearl Earring is written by Olivia Hetreed (Birds Like Us (2017)), adapting the same-titled 1999 novel by Tracy Chevalier (New Boy (2017)), and directed by Peter Webber (Emperor (2012)), whose theatrical debut it is.

It is a decently made but not very inspired nor deep period film. It is a painter biopic that lets one become fascinated with things such as how colors are created for the paint that goes into the paintings, but we don't get very near to the artist himself.

The many Brits in the cast are fundamentally unfit to capture the Dutch environment, it seems. The story doesn't swell up to greatness here, and Cillian Murphy (Anthropoid (2016)) is miscast: He and his romantic interest, the picturesque Scarlett Johansson (Lucy (2014)) regrettably do not suit each other.

 

Related post:

 

Peter Webber: 2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Hannibal Rising (2007) - Harris returns famed cannibal in sub-par origins flick

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. £, approximately 16.3 mil. $

Box office: 33 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.02 times its cost)

[Girl with a Pearl Earring premiered 31 August (Telluride Film Festival, US) and runs 100 minutes. The rights were bought, before the novel was published in 1999. Production was set to start with Mike Newell directing and Kate Hudson and Ralph Fiennes starring in 2001, when Hudson withdrew. Shooting took place in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The film opened #32 to an 89k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 402 theaters (different weeks), grossing 11.6 mil. $ (35.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.9 mil. $ (17.9 %) and Germany with 3.3 mil. $ (10 %). It was the 14th highest-grossing (part-) UK film in the UK of the year. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Cinematography (Eduardo Serra) to Russell Boyd for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Costume Design and Art/Set Decoration to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 10 BAFTAs, 3 British Independent Film awards, a David di Donatello award, won 1/3 European Film award nominations, was nominated for a Goya award, won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Webber returned with Six Feet Under (2004, TV-series)) and theatrically with Hannibal Rising (2007). Colin Firth (Fourplay (2001)) returned in Love Actually (2003); Johansson in The Perfect Score (2004); and Tom Wilkinson (Belle (2013)) in If Only (2004). Girl with a Pearl Earring is fresh at 72 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Girl with a Pearl Earring?

La Dolce Vita (1960) - Fellini's immortal masterpiece

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One of the fabulous, glamorous posters for Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita

QUICK REVIEW:

A Roman journalist spends a week chasing women, partying, interviewing a Swedish movie star, covering a religious mass hysteria and reconnecting with his father.

The 7th feature by Italian master filmmaker Federico Fellini (La Strada (1955)) is a true masterpiece and a multi-faceted salute to beauty and the myriads of variety in life; to eroticism, the woman, the city and the night.
Anouk Aimée (8½ (1963)), Marcello Mastroianni (What?/Che? (1972)) and Anita Ekberg (The French Sex Murders/Casa d'Appuntamento (1972)) are equally splendid in the film, which also has one of the most fantastic and memorable beginnings and endings in cinema history.
La Dolce Vita [which translates to 'the sweet life'] is written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano (The Tenth Victim/La Decima Vittima (1965)), Tullio Pinelli (8½) and Brunello Rondi (Sex Life in a Women's Prison/Prigione di Donne (1974)), with uncredited work done by great Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Passolini (The Gospel According to St. Matthew/Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo (1964)). - Don't miss this magical piece of cinema history!

Related posts:

Federico Fellini: Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
8½ (1963) or, Vive la Cinema!
Nights of Cabiria/Le Notti di Cabiria ((1957) - Fellini serves private infatuation as incredible masterpiece 

Anita Ekberg in Rome's Trevi fountain in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita

Marcello Mastroianni on the beach in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita

Here's a trailer for the film

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 19.5 mil. $ (North America only)
= Unknown (likely a big to huge hit)
[La Dolce Vita was released February 5 (Italy) and runs ca. 180 minutes. The film was mostly shot in Rome's Cinecittà studio, where more than 80 sets were reportedly created, making it a very costly film to mount. The Trevi fountain scene was, however, shot in the actual fountain, either in January or March, (sources differ), - but the water was definitely so freezing that Mastroianni had to wear a wetsuit under his costume (and chug vodka), while Ekberg completed it in just her gown. La Dolce Vita is also famous for coining the term 'paparazzi', which is the name of a tabloid character in the film. The film became a target for censorship: It was condemned by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano and banned in Spain for 15 years. But it was also hailed by scores of critics; it won the Palme d'Or in Cannes and the Best Costume Design Oscar and is recognized as one of the finest films ever. It was also nominated for direction, screenplay and art direction, which it lost to Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story, William Inge for Splendour in the Grass and The Hustler, respectively. A cost or world total for the film is not to be found online, but there seems little doubt that the film was a hit, probably a big or huge hit. La Dolce Vita is certified fresh at 96 % with a 9.1 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of La Dolce Vita?