Subscribe

New reviews, interviews, and features via RSS or Email.

Related Reviews

Javier Bardem

• No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Mar adentro (The Sea Inside) (2004)
• Before Night Falls (2000)
• Los Lunes al sol (Mondays in the Sun) (2002)
• The Dancer Upstairs (2003)
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
• Biutiful (2010)
• Skyfall (2012)
• The Counselor (2013)

Natalie Portman

• My Blueberry Nights (2008)
• The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
• V for Vendetta (2006)
• Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Closer (2004)
• Garden State (2004)
• Cold Mountain (2003)
• Empire (2002)
• Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones (2002)
• New York, I Love You (2009)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Your Highness (2011)
• Thor (2011)
• Knight of Cups (2015)
• Jackie (2016)

Stellan Skarsgard

• Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
• Dogville (2004)
• Mamma Mia! (2008)
• Angels & Demons (2009)
• Thor (2011)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
• The Avengers (2012)
• Romeo and Juliet (2013)

Randy Quaid

• The Ice Harvest (2005)
• Days of Thunder (1990)
• Midnight Express (1978)
• National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
• America Lost and Found: The BBS Story (2010)
• The Long Riders (1980)
• Home on the Range (2004)

Jose Luis Gomez

• Broken Embraces (2009)

Milos Forman

• Amadeus (1984)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• Hair (1979)

This Film On

• Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
• Rotten Tomatoes

Goya's Ghosts

(2007)

113 min. Samuel Goldwyn Films. Director: Milos Forman. Cast: Javier Bardem, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Randy Quaid, Jose Luis Gomez.

Director Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) join forces for Goya's Ghosts, a reckless historical-fiction melodrama with political overtones. During the Inquisition, Spanish painter Francisco Goya (Stellan Skarsgård) becomes embroiled in the struggle of young model Inés (Natalie Portman, driven to her acting limits, if not beyond them). Overzealous monk Lorenzo (Javier Bardem) has put her to "The Question," a brutal torture that elicits confessions irregardless of truth. If you're looking for a Goya biopic, you're in the wrong theatre; the painter's roles here are witness to history and glorified tour guide for the audience. The story—including what occurs after a 15-year time lapse—keeps busy covering rape, anti-Semitism, Randy Quaid as King Carlos IV, and the occupational fallout of the French Revolution. That's a lot to chew off in one film, and a spicy lot at that, but crackpot energy keeps Goya's Ghosts aboil.

Sponsored Links