Goya's Ghosts (2006)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Milos Forman

Writers (WGA):

Milos Forman (written by) &
Jean-Claude Carrière (written by)

Release Date:

10 November 2006 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Tell me what the truth is

Plot:

Painter Francisco Goya faces a scandal involving his muse, who is labeled a heretic by a monk.

Plot Keywords:

Painter | Goya | Painting | Monk | Spanish Inquisition

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Javier Bardem	...	Lorenzo
Natalie Portman	...	Inés / Alicia
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Francisco Goya
Randy Quaid	...	King Carlos IV
José Luis Gómez	...	Tomás Bilbatúa
Michael Lonsdale	...	Father Gregorio
Blanca Portillo	...	Queen María Luisa
Mabel Rivera	...	María Isabel Bilbatúa
Unax Ugalde	...	Ángel Bilbatúa
Fernando Tielve	...	Álvaro Bilbatúa
David Calder	...	Monk 1
Frank Baker	...	Monk 2
Ramón Langa	...	Hooded Monk
Manuel de Blas	...	Pyre Monk
Andrés Lima	...	Confiscating Monk

Also Known As:

Los fantasmas de Goya (Spain) (dubbed version)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, disturbing images, some sexual content and nudity.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA | Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Germany:12 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-13 | Netherlands:12 | USA:R | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Italy:T | Brazil:14 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Argentina:13 | Sweden:15 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Monasterio de Veruela, Veruela, Vera de Moncayo, Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain

Company:

Antena 3 Televisión

Trivia:

Milos Forman cast Natalie Portman after noticing her likeness to the girl in Goya's painting "Milkmaid of Bordeaux".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the first scene (dated 1792), it is stated that prints of Goya's anti-inquisition paintings are sold "even as far as Mexico". The use of the name "Mexico" is incorrect here, since at the time, it was actually a Spanish colony, not a country, and was known as "The New Spain". It was not until 1810 that the colony began fighting for its independence (on sept. 16th) in a war that lasted until 1821. Then it was known as "The Empire of Mexico" with Agustin De Iturbide as its emperor and included not only its present day territory but also the southern US states of Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas among others, as well as the central American territories which later became Guatemala, Belice, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica. Later, in 1824 Iturbide was executed, the Central American territories became independent, and the first Mexican constitution was issued which established a republic as the form of government and for the first time used "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" (United Mexican States), or in short form Mexico, as the official country name. It was also at this time that the green, white and red flag with an eagle in the center was adopted (though the eagle was different from the present-day eagle on the country's flag).

Quotes:

[Bonaparte and Lorenzo are looking at paintings of Maria Luisa]
Joseph Bonaparte: I met her once... don't recall her being quite so ugly though. How did she have so many lovers?
Brother Lorenzo: [smiling] She was the Queen, Your Majesty.

A Bleak Masterpiece on the Nightmare of History

I think Goya is after all just a pretext. What Forman wanted to talk about is how people are overwhelmed by history. It's a difficult idea to be grasped for people who live in wealthy societies where nothing much happens and the biggest problems are having more money than you already have and what to do on Saturday night. But Forman manages to show you how you can be powerless and doomed when history moves fast--too fast. The real protagonist of the story is not the painter, but the former Dominican priest, whose life is totally changed--and ultimately destroyed--by the big historical events (the French Revolution, the French invasion of Spain, the English invasion of Spain, the Restoration). The same may be said for the other characters in the story. Goya is there as a witness, and as the symbolic figure of the artist who manages to create something even out of utter destruction. One could say that Goya's Ghosts are exactly those people and events Goya witnessed and can't get rid of, so that he has to turn them into drawings and paintings; but the term "ghost" also refers to what individuals are like in those moments when everything is changing and moving towards God knows what goal. The priest and the young girl and all the other people in the story are just pawns of history, who strut and fret on the stage and then disappear. Ghosts, because they can be annihilated in any moment. It's a sad truth, but it's truth, notwithstanding Hollywood's mythologies of super-heroes that can win against all odds. Joyce said that history is a nightmare one tries to wake up from; Forman showed us the nightmare, and the last nightmarish scene of this movie is one of those you can't forget.