MovieChat Forums > Girl with a Pearl Earring (2004) Discussion > The problem with biographies (spoiler)

The problem with biographies (spoiler)

posted 9 years ago by joe2002
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I don't know what it is but when you're watching a biography it's so hard for there to be any tension or suspense that comes from not knowing how the story ends. This was an entertaining movie, don't get me wrong, but 45 to 55 minutes into it I was still waiting for someone to make a point about something.

I mean in the movie a painter hires a maid, she has an appreciation for hard, some horny old pervert wants her painted and *ahem* something else, the painter's wife gets pissed (rightfully so) and throws her out of the house. Not exactly creativity.

At the end I'd imagine those stupid earrings were the LAST thing on earth the girl would want.

The real "the girl with a pearl earring" painting is beautiful. A shame nobody truly knows much about the model.

Anyway, not really complaining or trying to make point, I just feel like as entertaining as biographies are they just miss an "element" that only fiction can provide.

[–] cobnut 9 years ago

Where are you getting the idea that this film is not fiction? It's based upon a fictional story written by a modern author. She used what little we know of Vermeer's life as markers for location and time period, but the rest was guesswork and imagination, not fact. It was telling the story of Griet, the fictional character. Not Vermeer the real man. It is not a biography except in the very loosest sense of the word.

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