Description:
Academy Award® nominees Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem star in two-time Academy Award® winning director Milos Forman's thrilling new romantic drama! Goya's Ghosts is a sweeping historical epic, told through the eyes of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya (Skarsgard). Set against the backdrop of political turmoil at the end of the Spanish Inquisition and start of the invasion of Spain by Napoleon's army, the film captures the essence and beauty of Goya's work which is best known for both the colorful depictions of the royal court and its people, and his grim depictions of the brutality of war and life in 18th century S
Academy Award® nominees Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem star in two-time Academy Award® winning director Milos Forman's thrilling new romantic drama! Goya's Ghosts is a sweeping historical epic, told through the eyes of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya (Skarsgard). Set against the backdrop of political turmoil at the end of the Spanish Inquisition and start of the invasion of Spain by Napoleon's army, the film captures the essence and beauty of Goya's work which is best known for both the colorful depictions of the royal court and its people, and his grim depictions of the brutality of war and life in 18th century Spain. When Goya's beautiful muse (Portman) is accused of being a heretic, renowned painter Francisco Goya (Skarsgard) must convince his old friend Lorenzo (Bardem), a power-hungry monk and leader of the Spanish Inquisition, to spare her life.
Even Milos Forman's most ardent supporters are sure to have mixed feelings about Goya's Ghosts. As expected from the Oscar-winning director of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the production values are strong and the performances solid. Unfortunately, his fictional take on the life of subversive painter Francisco Goya (Stellan Skarsgård), circa the Spanish Inquisition, feels undercooked compared to previous issue-driven works, like The People vs. Larry Flynt. As in that film, censorship and hypocrisy take center stage. Co-written by Luis Buñuel scenarist Jean-Claude Carrière (That Obscure Object of Desire), Goya's Ghosts concerns the painter's relationships with two subjects, Brother Lorenzo (Javier Bardem) and artist’s model Ines (Natalie Portman). When Ines is suspected of practicing Judaism, she's tortured until she confesses, leading to her incarceration. With Goya's assistance, her family enlists Lorenzo to fight for her freedom, but to no avail. For his own transgressions, Lorenzo flees the country, while Ines lingers in prison. The story then skips ahead 15 years. Goya has since lost his hearing, Ines remains imprisoned, and a defrocked Lorenzo is living a life of leisure in France. After Napoleon invades Spain, the three are once again thrown into each other's orbit. Of the trio, Goya emerges as decency incarnate, Ines as a victim of religious fundamentalism, and Lorenzo as a man who found his conscience far too late to save anyone--least of all himself. The humor that bouyed Amadeus might not have been appropriate in this case, but Goya's Ghosts is a real downer. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Release date: 26 February 2008
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0043396198104 UPC: 043396198104
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