''Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment'' (german: Goya – oder der arge Weg der Erkenntnis) is a 1971 East German

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-g ...

directed by

Konrad Wolf Konrad Wolf (20 October 1925 – 7 March 1982) was an East Germany, East German film director. He was the son of writer, doctor and diplomat Friedrich Wolf (writer), Friedrich Wolf, and the younger brother of Stasi spymaster Markus Wolf. "K ...

. It was entered into the

7th Moscow International Film Festival The 7th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 20 July to 3 August 1971. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Italian film '' Confessions of a Police Captain'' directed by Damiano Damiani, the Japanese film ''Live Today, Die Tomorrow! ...

where it won a Special Prize. It is based on a novel with the same title by

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. Feuchtwanger's Ju ...

Plot

The painter Francisco de Goya achieved reputation and prosperity through his talent and creative power. His clients come from the most important houses in Madrid and so he gradually comes to the royal court of Charles IV. He is passionately drawn to the Duchess Alba and at the same time hates the decadent aristocrat in her. He believes in the king and the church, enjoys his position at court. His colleague and friend Esteve shows him the contradictions of this closed world and leads him to the simple people of the country. In a Madrid tavern he meets the singer Maria Rosario; later he has to see her being condemned by the Inquisition. He is deeply shocked by the song that Maria has to recite as proof of her guilt. The further he penetrates into the life of the people, drawing motifs for his art from it, the greater his inner pain becomes in view of the conditions in the country. His relationship with the Alba gains in self-destruction and so he suffers a sudden hearing loss. He turns his back on the farm and travels completely deaf to his mother's home in Aragon. With the help of his companion Esteve, he finds his way back to his work, which leads him to an inner turning away from the values of society and the church. He is plagued by demons whom he recognizes in their deeds and their social influence and which flow into his work. He himself falls into the clutches of the Inquisition; the Grand Inquisitor implores him to refuse this idea. But Goya is firmly established in the belief that the misery and horror arise from the circumstances themselves and remains convinced of the truth of his pictures. He chooses exile. 1808 in Madrid, an uprising of residents against the occupation of the by French troops was brutally suppressed. Struck by what he saw, Goya proceeded to create a cycle of etchings

The Disasters of War ''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...

Cast

Donatas Banionis Donatas Banionis (28 April 1924 – 4 September 2014) was a Soviet and Lithuanian stage and film actor and theatre director. He has more than 80 credited roles in cinema and is best known for his performance in the lead role of Tarkovsky's '' Sol ...

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 ...

Olivera Katarina Olivera Katarina (; sr-cyr, Оливера Катарина, ; born 5 March 1940), also previously known as Olivera Vučo ( sr-cyr, Оливера Вучо) and Olivera Šakić ( sr-cyr, Оливера Шакић), is a Serbian actress, singer a ...

as The Duchess of Alba * Fred Düren as Esteve *

Tatyana Lolova Tatyana Lolova ( bg, Татяна Лолова; 10 February 1934 – 22 March 2021) was a Bulgarian stage and film actress. She was best known for her comedy roles that she played for more than 40 years, bringing her the reputation as one of the m ...

as Queen Maria Luisa *

Rolf Hoppe Rolf Hoppe (6 December 1930 – 14 November 2018) was a prolific German stage, cinema, and television actor, who played in more than 400 films in a career which spanned over six decades. To international audiences Hoppe is perhaps best known f ...

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place = ...

* Mieczyslaw Voit as Grand Inquisitor *

Mikhail Kozakov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozakov (in Russian: Михаил Михайлович Козаков) (14 October 1934, Leningrad – 22 April 2011, Ramat Gan) was a Soviet, Russian and Israeli film and theatre director and actor. Biography Early life Mik ...

as Gilmarde *

Arno Wyzniewski Arno Wyzniewski (9 October 1938 - 14 September 1997) was an East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 Octobe ...

as Quintana *

Lyudmila Chursina Lyudmila Alexeyevna Chursina (Russian: Людми́ла Алексе́евна Чурсина́; born 20 July 1941) is a Soviet and Russian film actress. She has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows since 1962. In 1981 she was a m ...

as Pepa * Veriko Andjaparidze as Mother *

Ariadna Shengelaya Ariadna Vsevolodovna Shengelaya (née Shprink) (russian: Ариа́дна Все́володовна Шенгела́я; born 13 January 1937) is a Soviet actress. She appeared in 33 films between 1957 and 1997. She was married to the Georgian ...

as Josefa *

Gustaw Holoubek Gustaw Teofil Holoubek (21 April 1923 – 6 March 2008) was a Polish actor, director, member of the Polish Sejm, and a senator. Holoubek participated in the September Campaign and was a prisoner of war during the Nazi German Occupation of P ...

as Bermudez *

Wolfgang Kieling Wolfgang Kieling (16 March 1924 – 7 October 1985) was a German actor. Biography In films since childhood in his native Germany, Kieling appeared in a few American films, notably in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Torn Curtain'' (1966), where he play ...

Manuel Godoy Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many t ...

References

External links

* 1971 films 1970s biographical films 1971 multilingual films 1970s German-language films German biographical films Soviet biographical films East German films Films directed by Konrad Wolf Biographical films about painters Films based on German novels Cultural depictions of Francisco Goya Films set in the 1790s Films set in 1808 Films set in the 1810s Films set in the 1820s Films set in Spain Films shot in Bulgaria Films shot in Croatia Films shot in Russia Films shot in Ukraine Films shot in Yugoslavia Napoleonic Wars films Soviet multilingual films German multilingual films 1970s German films {{1970s-USSR-film-stub