Goya's Ghosts

''Goya's Ghosts'' is a 2006 biographical drama film, 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, Natalie Portman, and Stellan Skarsgård, 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, the work of Francisco Goya, the Official Court Painter to Spain's royalty, disturbs the Spanish Inquisition. Brother Lorenzo Casamares hires Goya to paint his portrait. Lorenzo eventually 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. Inés is later summoned by the Inquisition and arrested on charges of "Judaizing" by refusing pork. She is stripped naked and tortured by strappado into a confession and then imprisoned.

Tomás 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 Inés up and offers to pray with her. She prays with him at his request.

Later, at a dinner in Bilbatúa's home where he and Goya are guests, Lorenzo defends the act of torturing someone to get a confession. Goya and Bilbatúa disagree.

Bilbatúa then draws up a document which says that Lorenzo confesses to being a monkey, and aided by his sons, tortures Lorenzo, 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 that it may persuade the Holy Office to release her.

The Inquisitor-General Father Gregorio accepts the money, but refuses Inés's release, since she has confessed. Lorenzo again visits Inés and rapes her. Later, Tomás brings the document to king Charles IV, who promises to look into Inés's situation. The document is an embarrassment to the Holy Office, and Lorenzo flees to France when they come to arrest him. His portrait is confiscated and publicly burned in effigy.

Fifteen years later, the French army invades Spain, abolishes the Inquisition and sets its prisoners free, including Inés, who has been losing her sanity over the years. Lorenzo is now a fanatical adherent of the French Revolution. He has become Napoleon's chief prosecutor against his Inquisition ex-colleagues. A French show trial court convicts and sentences Gregorio to death.

Upon returning home and finding her family dead, Inés turns to a now deaf Goya for help in finding a girl she gave birth to years before. The child was taken away at birth. Lorenzo, ashamed of being the father, eventually sends Inés to an insane asylum. Lorenzo starts investigating and learns that the child, named Alicia, was placed at an orphanage from which she ran away years prior.

In Garden Park, Goya notices a prostitute named Alicia who looks like Inés. Goya asks Lorenzo for Inés, to reunite her with Alicia. Worried, Lorenzo secretly visits Alicia at the park, offering to pay her passage to America if she leaves Spain. She refuses. Meanwhile, Goya bribes the asylum's director to release Inés. 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 the prostitutes. Lorenzo plans to sell them as slaves to America.

The deluded Inés later finds a baby left by its mother, who was taken in the raid. She steals the baby away, thinking that it is her lost child.

Aided by the Spanish populace, The British are defeating the French. 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 reinstates the Inquisition. Lorenzo is sentenced to death.

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 calls to Lorenzo, showing him the baby that she thinks is their daughter. Refusing to repent despite pleas from his former colleagues, Lorenzo is garroted. Lorenzo's body is taken 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 as Inés Bilbatúa and Alicia
* Javier Bardem as Lorenzo Casamares
* Stellan Skarsgård as Francisco Goya
* Michael Lonsdale as the Inquisitor General Father Gregorio
* Randy Quaid as King Charles IV
* Blanca Portillo as Queen María Luisa
* José Luis Gómez as Tomás Bilbatúa
* Mabel Rivera as María Isabel Bilbatúa
* Unax Ugalde as Ángel Bilbatúa
* Fernando Tielve as Álvaro Bilbatúa
* Julian Wadham as Joseph Bonaparte
* Manuel Brun as King Ferdinand VII

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 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''.

Reception

Box office

The film has grossed $2,198,929 in Spain and $1,199,024 in Italy. In the United States, ''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.

Notes

References

External links

Official website (archived)



* John Walker. (2009)
"''Goya's ghosts'' (Los phantasmas de Goya) (2006) film review
. ''artdesigncafe''.
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"Liberty, Equality and Torture," in ''Willamette Week''
By N.P. Thompson

Photos
at natalieportman.com

{{Francisco Goya

2006 films
2006 biographical drama films
Biographical films about painters
Cultural depictions of Francisco Goya
Cultural depictions of Ferdinand VII
Cultural depictions of Spanish monarchs
Cultural depictions of Spanish queens
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
Films about the Inquisition
Peninsular War films
Spanish Inquisition
Warner Bros. films
2000s Spanish films
Cultural depictions of Joseph Bonaparte
English-language biographical drama films