Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

Likewise, the two central ekphrastic moments in the film point to an
important difference between novel and film. When Cornelia first shows Richard
the painting, she is almost moved to tears at its beauty, as if she had never seen it
before: “Look at her eye, like a pearl. The longing in her expression. The Delft
light spilling onto her. And look, see here, the grace of her hand. Idle, palms up.”
And she continues, when Richard expresses his disbelief in its authenticity:
“Look, look at the window cast, smooth as liquid light, and look, look at the
basket. Tiny grooves of brushstrokes creating the textures in the reed. That’s
Vermeer.” Yet, the camera focuses on her face, on her gestures of love and
devotion, rather than on the painting, which is not shown during this depictive
ekphrasis, thus emphasizing her own longing for love and affection.
The second longer depictive ekphrastic moment in the film occurs in the
scene in which her father loots the painting. 214 Sitting at a table under which the
young Jewish boy is hiding, he contemplates it for a long time, musing: “Is this
possible then. The Delft light, lion-head finials on the chairs, and […] the tapestry
on the table. All Vermeer.” While gently holding the painting, still with an
admiring look on his face, and in the same breath and tone, he tells the boy to
come out under the table. Thus simultaneously deporting the boy to the
concentration camp trains and taking the painting as booty, his ekphrasis is tied to
his double war crime. Furthermore, while he muses about the painting, the scene
jump cuts between a focus on the painting, the SS officer, and the Jewish boy,
214 There are three other, very brief ekphrases in the other stories: the girl Tanneke in the first
story identifies with the girl’s expression of longing and love while waiting for her lover, the art
collector to whom Saskia sells the painting makes some brief admiring comments about its
technique, and the servant girl Aletta uses it as a foil to her own existence, as symbol of
unreachable happiness.
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