''Goya's Ghosts'' is a 2006
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
, directed by
Miloš Forman (his final directorial feature before his death in 2018), and written by him and
Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars
Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (; born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. Known for his roles in blockbusters and foreign films, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the psychopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in ...
,
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...
and
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (201 ...
, and was filmed on location in Spain during late 2005. The film was written, produced, and performed in English although it is a Spanish production.
Although the historical setting of the film is authentic, the story about Goya trying to defend a model is fictional, as are the characters Brother Lorenzo and the Bilbatúa family.
Plot
In 1792,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
suffers amid upheaval from the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
.
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
is a renowned painter who does portraits as the Official Court Painter to Spain's royalty, among others.
The
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...
is disturbed by some of Goya's work. Brother Lorenzo Casamares defends him and later hires him to paint his
portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...
. Lorenzo says that his works are not evil, but simply depict evil. He recommends that the Church/Inquisition step up against
anti-Catholic
Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...
practices, and he is given power to intensify the Inquisition.
While posing for Goya, Lorenzo sees a painting and asks about the model he uses, Inés, the daughter of rich merchant Tomás Bilbatúa. Later, Inés is spotted in a tavern by Holy Office spies (trained by Lorenzo) declining a dish of pork. She is summoned by the Inquisition and arrested on charges of "Judaizing" by refusing pork. She is stripped naked and
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
d by
strappado (put to The Question) into a confession and then imprisoned.
Her father begs Goya for help, who in turn asks Lorenzo to learn about Inés's situation. Lorenzo finds her naked in the dungeon, feigning to help her and pass a message to her family. He covers her up and offers to pray with her, but struggles with his desire for her. She prays with him at his request.
Later, at a dinner in Bilbatúa's home where he and Goya are guests, Lorenzo defends strappado (The Question). He argues that if the accused is innocent, God will give him or her the strength to deny guilt; therefore, a person who confesses under duress must be guilty. Bilbatúa does not agree and argues that people will confess to anything under torture, to which Goya also agrees.
Bilbatúa then draws up a document which says that Lorenzo confesses to being a monkey, and with the help of his sons, tortures Lorenzo in the same manner, causing him to break down and sign it. Bilbatúa promises to destroy the document if Inés is released. He gives Lorenzo a large gold 'donation' for the Church in the hopes it may persuade the Holy Office to release her.
Lorenzo pleads for Inés, and the Inquisitor-General Father Gregorio accepts the money, but refuses her release, since she has confessed. Lorenzo again visits Inés, offering to pray with her, but instead rapes her. Later, her father brings the document to the king,
Charles IV who is amused at reading it and promises to look into Inés' situation. The document is an embarrassment to the Holy Office, and Lorenzo flees when they come to arrest him. His portrait is confiscated and publicly burned in effigy.
Fifteen years pass, and a now deaf Goya is at the height of his creativity. The
French army invades Spain, abolishes the Inquisition and sets the prisoners free. Lorenzo had fled to France, and is now a fanatical adherent of the French Revolution. He has become
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's chief prosecutor against his Inquisition ex-colleagues. (This twist in Lorenzo's allegiance may have been inspired by
Juan Antonio Llorente
Juan Antonio Llorente, ORE (March 30, 1756 in Rincón de Soto (La Rioja), Spain – February 5, 1823 in Madrid) was a Spanish historian.
Biography
Llorente was raised by an uncle after his parents died. He studied at the University of Zaragoza ...
.) A French
show trial court convicts and sentences the Inquisitor-General to death.
Left in the dungeons over the years, Inés has been losing her sanity. She gave birth to a daughter who was taken away at birth. Upon returning home and finding her family dead, Inés turns to Goya for help in finding her child. Lorenzo is the father, which is embarrassing for him, and he sends Inés to an
insane asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
. Lorenzo questions the condemned Inquisitor-General, who tells him that a child born in the dungeon would've been placed at an orphanage. Lorenzo finds her and learns from the nuns that his daughter, Alicia, had run away several years prior.
While sketching in Garden Park, Goya notices a
prostitute named Alicia who looks just like Inés. He goes to Lorenzo and asks for Inés, so he can reunite her with her daughter. Lorenzo becomes worried and secretly visits Alicia at the park, offering to pay her passage to America if she leaves Spain. She refuses, calling him insane. Meanwhile, Goya visits the asylum where Lorenzo had stashed Inés and bribes the director to release her. He attempts to bring her to see Alicia at a tavern where prostitutes gather. As he tries to persuade Alicia, soldiers (on Lorenzo's orders) raid the place and arrest all the prostitutes. Goya learns that Lorenzo plans to sell them as
slaves to America.
Soon after, the deluded Inés wanders into the tavern and finds a baby left by its mother, who was taken in the raid. She is elated and steals the baby away thinking it's her lost child.
The British are easily defeating the French with help from the Spanish populace. They come over a hill and charge the wagons transporting the prostitutes. The French escort abandons the wagons, and Alicia catches the eye of a British officer. Lorenzo is caught fleeing the invasion, and Spain has reinstated the Inquisition. Lorenzo is sentenced to death, with the Inquisitor-General reversing their earlier roles. He urges Lorenzo to repent as he is taken to the execution wearing a
sanbenito with painted flames, indicating that he is sentenced to hell.
On the scaffold, Lorenzo sees Alicia, next to the British officer, scoffing at him. He also sees Goya sketching the scene at a distance. Inés is also in the crowd, and she calls to Lorenzo, showing him the baby she thinks is their daughter. Refusing to repent despite pleas from his former colleagues, Lorenzo is
garroted
A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word; alternative spellings include garotte and similar variants''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spellin ...
. The film ends with a cart taking Lorenzo's body away, escorted by Inés still carrying the child, with Goya following behind and calling for her. She glances back with a smile, but continues to accompany Lorenzo's body.
Cast
*
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...
as Inés Bilbatúa and Alicia
*
Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (; born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. Known for his roles in blockbusters and foreign films, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the psychopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in ...
as Lorenzo Casamares
*
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (201 ...
as
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
*
Michael Lonsdale as the
Inquisitor General Father Gregorio
*
Randy Quaid
Randy Randall Rudy Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an American actor known for his roles in both serious drama and light comedy.
He was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for his role in '' The Last Detail'' ...
as
King Charles IV
*
Blanca Portillo
Blanca Portillo Martínez de Velasco (born 15 June 1963) is a Spanish actress.
Career
Portillo started as an actress in several small theater productions before graduating in drama from the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático.
One of he ...
as
Queen María Luisa
*
José Luis Gómez José Luis Gómez may refer to:
* José Luis Gómez (actor) (born 1940), Spanish actor and director
* José Luis Gómez (footballer) (born 1993), Argentine footballer
* José Luis Gómez Martínez (born 1943), Spanish professor
* Joselu (footba ...
as Tomás Bilbatúa
*
Mabel Rivera as María Isabel Bilbatúa
*
Unax Ugalde
Unax Ugalde Gutiérrez (born 27 November 1978) is a Spanish-Basque actor.
Early life
Unax Ugalde Gutiérrez was born on 27 November 1978, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country. He is the son of a worker at the Altos Hornos and a housewife. While ...
as Ángel Bilbatúa
*
Fernando Tielve as Álvaro Bilbatúa
*
Julian Wadham
Julian Neil Rohan Wadham (born 7 August 1958) is an English actor of stage, film and television. He was educated at Ampleforth College and the Central School of Speech and Drama, third son of Rohan Nicholas Wadham DFC and Juliana Wadham, née ...
as
Joseph Bonaparte
it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte
, house = Bonaparte
, father = Carlo Buonaparte
, mother = Letizia Ramolino
, birth_date = 7 January 1768
, birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...
Production
Actual Goya paintings were used in the film, except for those which were supposed to resemble Bardem and Portman. Close-ups of Goya's hands creating his paintings used an actual artist.
Bardem said he first believed he should have been cast as Goya, but then realized Lorenzo was a "wonderful challenge because he embodies two entirely opposite behaviors."
[
Skarsgard wore a ]fat suit
A fatsuit, also known as a fat suit or a fat-suit, is a bodysuit-like undergarment used to thicken the appearance of an actress or actor of light to medium build into an overweight or obese character, in conjunction with prosthetic makeup. Fatsui ...
at first but enjoyed the food so much he gained enough weight for the role later.[
When getting ready to cast Inés, Forman saw Portman on a magazine cover and noticed how much she looked like '']The Milkmaid of Bordeaux
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''.[
]
Reception
Box office
The film has grossed $2,198,929 in Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and $1,199,024 in Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.[ In the ]United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, ''Goya's Ghosts'' has grossed $1,000,626, with a worldwide total $9,448,082.
Critical reception
''Goya's Ghosts'' received poor reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that 30% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 87 reviews — with the consensus that "ornate costumes and a talented cast can't make up for ''Ghosts''' glacial pace and confused plot." Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
reported the film had an average score of 52 out of 100, based on 25 reviews — indicating average reviews.
Comparisons to the Iraq War
Although Forman said the script was finished before the Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
started, the movie was seen as critical of the U.S. role. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney quoted Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
before the war, saying we would be seen as liberators, a line which Forman said was already in the script. Forman said he wanted to depict the "interesting fact that Napoleon brought the seeds of democracy to Spain, but at the time it wasn't enough."[ Forman said the same thing was happening in Iraq;"We are planting the right seeds in the wrong soil. This soil is not yet fertilized enough for these seeds to grow."][ The film's first scene, with the priests looking at Goya's apparently scandalous work and saying "This is how the world sees us", could be compared to the Abu Ghraib scandal.][
]
References
External links
Official website (archived)
* John Walker. (2009)
"''Goya's ghosts'' (Los phantasmas de Goya) (2006) film review
. ''artdesigncafe''.
*
*
*
*
*
"Liberty, Equality and Torture," in ''Willamette Week''
By N.P. Thompson
Photos
at natalieportman.com
{{Francisco Goya
2006 drama films
2006 films
Biographical films about painters
Cultural depictions of Francisco Goya
English-language Spanish films
Films about Catholicism
Films directed by Miloš Forman
Films produced by Saul Zaentz
Films set in 1792
Films set in the 1800s
Films set in the 1810s
Films set in Spain
Films shot in Madrid
Films with screenplays by Jean-Claude Carrière
Films with screenplays by Miloš Forman
Inquisition in fiction
Peninsular War films
Spanish Inquisition
Warner Bros. films
2000s Spanish films