Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14585 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-09-10
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

Synopsis
Natalie Portman plays the muse of artist Francisco Goya (Stellan Skarsgard) in this 18th century drama. Portman's character undergoes a tortuous time as she is accused of heresy and tortured by a brutal monk.

Customer Reviews

A Haunting Film
This is a haunting, visually-striking, absorbing film. Set in Spain just before and then during the Napoleonic War it centres on the life and work of the celebrated artist Francisco Goya. Stellan Skarsgard turns in an excellent performance in this role, far from the sort we usually se him in, but in terms of impact the main character is the fanatic Lorenzo. Javier Bardem turns in a stellar performance as a softly-spoken well-mannered man who gives the impression of having a soft human side but who is capable of the most extreme cruelty (all for a higher cause, of course): the sort of man who over dinner will calmly explain that it is perfectly in order for the Inquisition to use confessions obtained by torture as proof of guilt because God will give the innocent the strength to withstand the pain. The relationship between these two men and the woman Ines (Natalie Portman) is really what the film is all about.
It is difficult to go into details about what happens without giving away some of the intricacies and issues of the plot, which is well-crafted and catches the spirit of a turbulent time and what it did to people. This is a pity, there is much one could say. But if you want a good, thought-provoking drama well presented it's worth watching. (Though if you're after a relaxed and happy film, this isn't it.)

Impressive Historical Drama
I am somewhat surprised by the lukewarm reception that "Goya's Ghosts" has got from the critics.I thought that it was a captivating film, well acted in the main with excellent characterisation and frequently stunning cinematography.The historical backdrop of late 18th Century/early 19th Century Spain was interesting as well, featuring as it does the Spanish Inquisition and the Peninsular War. "Goya's Ghosts" is less a film about the renowned Spanish painter ,Francisco Goya, and more of a film about his friend, Brother Lorenzo, played superbly by Javier Bardem,a Spanish Inquisitor turned French occupier and his life of villainy and repression.Natalie Portman plays Ines, a beautiful friend of Goya's ,who acts as his muse; she is falsely accused of heresy by the Inquisition and is raped by Lorenzo after being cast down into their dungeons. Goya (played by Stellan Skarsgard) is often merely a peripheral observer in this film which mostly follows the career of Lorenzo and the plight of Ines over a fifteen year period. In this respect perhaps the film's title is a misleading one and a more appropriate one ought to have been found. However this shouldn't detract from the fact that "Goya's Ghosts" is an enjoyable ,entertaining historical drama which,in my opinion, is worthy of better reviews than it has received to date.

It ain't no Amadeus
I bought this DVD because it seems to have impeccable credentials. Milos Forman as far as I know had never made a bad film previously, was the only other director apart from Eastwood and Coppola to have won two Oscars for Best Picture, and had such a way with actors, his star performances were Oscar-nominated no less than eight times. Then there's Jean-Claude Carriere, scriptwriter of Bunuel's great Indian Summer pics, and a host of other great movies The Unbearable Lightness of BeingCyrano De Bergerac. He'd worked on other Foreman movies too, so it should have gone swimmingly.

So what goes so badly wrong? The central problem is that the movie can't decide whose story this is - Goya's, the Inquisitor-turned-French-Revolutionary Lorenzo, the abused girl Ines who is tortured, driven mad and given a child by Lorenzo. It wanders between the three with little sense of integration. The film I think Foreman wanted to make would have shown how Goya changed from being a court painter of flattery and wealth to an engaged artist despairing at the cruelty of people who lost his wealth and found his final talent in his visionary masterpieces.