‘Pearl’ technically magnificent, ploddingly dull

In theaters

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, directed by Peter Webber, written by Olivia Hetreed, based on Tracy Chevalier’s novel, 95 minutes, rated PG-13.

The new Peter Webber movie, “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” takes its title from Jan Vermeer’s great 17th century painting of the same name, in which a teenage girl, on the cusp of womanhood, turns to look at us with such a shock of charged, budding sexuality, the art world and fans of Vermeer have been intrigued by her ever since.

Framed not against the light of Vermeer’s famed studio window but against a black backdrop – her pale skin luminous, eyes slightly wary, full lips parted, as if she’s about to tell us something – the girl is a formidable presence who won’t go ignored.

Still, who was she? For years, it was suggested that she was Vermeer’s youngest daughter, Maria, but scholars came to quash that theory because Maria would have been too young at 11 to have sat for the painting when it was conceived in 1665.

In 1999 – a full 334 years later – novelist Tracy Chevalier capitalized on how little is known about Vermeer when she published her best-selling, speculative account on who she thought might have inspired the painting. Turns out it wasn’t merely the works of Hendrick Terbrugghen, Carel Fabritius, Pieter de Hooch, the Dutch masters or Rembrandt, but a young peasant farm girl named Griet.

Now, in this technically magnificent yet ploddingly dull film version from Webber and screenwriter Olivia Hetreed, we meet Griet, a new maid in the Vermeer household who shakes things up with her ripe lips, sidelong glances and pure skin, the likes of which get her into plenty of trouble.

She’s played by Scarlett Johansson, the young actress who’s on something of a roll this year, scoring Golden Globe nominations for her excellent work in Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” for which she deserves an Academy Award nomination, and now in this, for which she deserves only our patience.

Johansson is a good actress, but here, she’s lost in a movie that’s cultured to the point of exhaustion. So weighty is this “Pearl,” in fact, that it can barely lift itself onto the screen. Is there a more glum, solemn bunch than the characters assembled here? Probably, but we’ll leave the Cheneys out of this.

In brief, the plot: Griet comes to live with the Vermeers, where part of her duties find her cleaning the master’s studio. Nearly broke and painting on commission for a nasty patron (Tom Wilkinson), Vermeer (Colin Firth) takes the young maid under his wing.

His fiercely jealous and very pregnant wife, Catharina (Essie Davis), wants no part of her, but working against Catharina is her own meddling mother, Maria (Judy Parfitt), who knows that if Vermeer doesn’t work, if he doesn’t find inspiration, wherever that might be, the lot of them will be broke and cast onto the street.

This sounds like a fine setup for conflict, but Webber is so distracted with achieving a movie infused with the details of Vermeer’s works – the precise richness of color, the way light enters an interior, how a shadow falls upon a cheek, the exact staging of a scene – that the story gets stuck in the details. It’s never as emotional, complex or as arresting as it could have been, though praise must go to cinematographer Eduardo Serra and art director Ben van Os, who indeed honor Vermeer with their work even if Webber falls short of doing the same.

Grade: C+

On video and DVD

THE MEDALLION, directed by Gordon Chan, written by Bennett Joshua Davlin, Alfred Cheung, Gordon Chan, Paul Wheeler and Bey Logan, 90 minutes, rated PG-13.

“The Medallion” follows Jackie Chan’s last film, “The Tuxedo,” in that it tries to dress the actor up with gadgetry and gimmickry. In doing so, it misses the point of what makes Chan so special – he doesn’t need such embellishments to heighten his appeal.

In its most streamlined form, the film stars Chan as Eddie Yang, a Hong Kong detective trying to stop the evil Snakehead (Julian Sands) from stealing a young boy’s powerful medallion and thus becoming immortal.

Should Snakehead do so, he naturally will destroy the world. It’s up to Eddie, his idiot Interpol partner, Watson (Lee Evans), and Eddie’s love interest, Nicole James (Claire Forlani), to put Snakehead’s head on a block and deliver it a few swift chops. In the process, Eddie and Nicole get a life-altering twist, not to be revealed here.

Directed three years ago by Gordon Chan (no relation) and sitting on a studio shelf until its theatrical release last August, “The Medallion” has its moments, but mostly it’s a chaotic mishmash of disjointed, unnecessary scenes.

It was written by five writers – all of whom clearly had their own ideas about which direction the film should take. Too bad they didn’t all agree.

The film’s buffoonish, amateurish humor undermines it, but there are nevertheless two terrific chase scenes here, with the nimble, charismatic Chan doing some of his best work in years and proving, once again, with his fantastic ballet of kicks and flips, how unnecessary words still are in the movies.

Grade: C-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.