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"A TRUE BARGAIN FOR THE PRICE"

Written By: Harold Wolf

This movie is a great find for any art lover. The entire film offers the beautiful essence of the oil painting by Vermeer. I'm not saying it is as great as the master's painting; it is however, as sensual and reveals the color quality from the painting.

Griet, the girl in the picture, played by Scarlett Johansson, is masterful in that, even with many moments where she has no dialogue, her expressions and the glances of her eyes tells the story of the painting over and over and over. She is a goddess-like beauty but at the same time plain as any Delft maid in 1665. What she does NOT say tells much of the painting's story.

Colin Firth is...well, Colin Firth is top-drawer good and this time not as an Englishman. He does a perfect job portraying the artist, Vermeer, in love with the picture's composition and subject, NOT the girl herself.

For anyone who recognizes the painting, this is a gem (or should we call it a "PEARL"? A welcome film companion to the art work. And if you like this, try to locate a copy of "Sunday in the Park with George" a musical based upon the characters painted by Seurat in his masterpiece "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte".

"Defective discs 2 out of 2"

Written By: Joseph Hourigan

I received two copies of this DVD, one from Amazon and one from a different source. both DVDs had the same problem.
About 10 minutes into the movie the picels started breaking up and a little while later, the movie just froze.
Tried it on different players and computers and still no joy.
Had to get refunds on both.

Must be a manufacturing glitch.

"REALLY SLOW! REALLY BORING!"

Written By: linda

obviously all the people that gave this movie 4-5 stars were asked to write positive reviews or read the book. this movie had so many wholes in it that i couldnt wait for it to end. the script was probably only two pages of diologue. you could literally watch this movie while cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes with the sound off and still know what was going on. I love period movies and the set, clothing, scenery ect. fit the bill. Its to bad there was'nt some substance along with it.

"If Vermeer Was Brit"

Written By: Billyjack D'Urberville

This beautifully made film is worth seeing for the heavily meditated transmission of 17th century Dutch art to the screen, a stunning achievement. Delft is wonderfully recreated based on the works of Vermeer and many other painters. The basic story line about a Calvinist girl warily going into a Bohemian artist household is fine, and Scarlett Johanson is very good, as is her butcher's apprentice boyfriend.

The only problem is that this isn't Vermeer -- they should have simply used another name as in ordinary Roman a' clef novels such as The Sun Also Rises. While we do not have a dense background on Vermeer, we do know enough to say he wasn't a broody British Heathcliff. Painting wasn't his only gig nor even perhaps his main one -- he traded rugs & paintings & took over his dad's tavern. He knew all the artists in town and painted himself as a happy camper at least 3 times we know of. There is no reason to imagine his marriage and household wasn't happy, either -- it's an island of calm in 25 pics painted over 25 years. I guess you can't slander the dead, but as they used to say in the old days, there oughta be a law.

Colin Firth is otherwise fine as Heathcliff in this spin off of Wuthering Heights moved to Delft, and the rest of the cast as Heathcliff's batty family. Remove the historicist pretension and the film works beautifully. Unfortunately, the cartooning of major artists is getting epedemic with films like Shakespeare in Love and Amadeus. For kids raised on the History Channel, Hollywood as history, this is bad candy which shouldn't be accepted from stangers. They are getting the past recreated with great visual acumen, but 0 inner light.

"If You Like Seeing People Standing Around Wide Eyed and Gaped Jawed, This Movie is for You."

Written By: Steve

Everyone else do yourself a favor and avoid it. I'm just happy that I saw it on IFC and didn't rent or (heaven forbid) buy the stupid thing. I was hoping for a movie that would be both visually and intellectually stimulating (like The Agony and the Ecstasy) but instead only got one that was pleasing to the eye. I kept hoping that the story would show up but it never did, unless of course the script read "Scarlet Johansson stands wide eyed and fearful for the next hour and a half." The romance (if that was what it was) between Griet and the butcher's son was neither developed (did she love him or was she repulsed by him) or necessary. Nor can I see any reason for the groping scene, the bratty daughter "sub-plot" (you must have a plot before you can have a sub-plot), or pretty much anything else in the movie. I won't go as far as some to complain about the American accents, since the only way to have real authenticity in that department would be to have everyone speaking Dutch, but the "creepy guy/stalker boss/all men are evil" theme has been done to death and this movie provided us with two examples of it!

I've not read the novel and, as another reviewer stated, now I don't want to but I do hope the rule that the book is better than the movie is the case.

My final thought, nice to look at but otherwise boring and pretentious.