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With a name like Goya's Ghosts, you might expect that this film would be a biopic of the titular Spanish painter. While he is a major character in the film (played by Stellan Skarsgård), it's really nothing of the sort. In fact, it's quite hard to define precisely what Goya's Ghosts is about. Set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the film has the backdrop of the barbaric Spanish Inquisition as well as Napoleon's invasion of the country. No one character could be said to be the central one; at times it seems to focus on Goya but then diverts to concentrate on Inés (Natalie Portman) or Lorenzo (Javier Bardem), both of whom disappear from the narrative for considerable lengths of time. The events of the film get underway when Inés is incarcerated by the Inquisition and is tortured for supposedly practicing Judaism in secret. Inés has been Goya's muse in the past so he tries to help free her. It's pretty difficult to summarise the plot because the film doesn't really have one, but it's a testament to director Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) that it still manages to be a pretty absorbing work.
There are plenty of unusual choices made throughout the film, the most crucial one being the somewhat jarring 15-year jump in the middle of the film, which separates the film into basically a two-act story. The second act is somewhat different from the first, as it is in this section where we see Napoleon's invasion, and the dramatic thrust of the film changes from the attempts to free Inés to her search for her daughter after 15 years of imprisonment. During this time Inés has understandably lost her mind slightly, and Portman fails to completely convince as the deranged older woman. She doesn't receive as much screen time in this half, however, with the attention mainly on Goya and Lorenzo. The acting of the central pair is very good, with Skarsgård presenting a sympathetic and charismatic figure, and while Bardem struggles with English he has undeniable screen presence. The casting struck me as odd; Bardem is the only actual Spaniard in the principal cast and therefore stands out in both appearance and accent (none of the other characters even attempt to sound Spanish). Casting a Swede as Goya is just strange, although it didn't prove to be too much of a problem due to the strength of the performance. As this review has probably implied, Goya's Ghosts is a very difficult film to categorise, but that works to its advantage in some respects. Its unpredictability kept me engrossed the whole time and its originality was refreshing. Due to the subject matter, though, there are aspects of it that are unpleasant and the ending is annoyingly inconclusive. It's a qualified success.
The summary
Goya's Ghosts is an unusual historical offering. The period is well evoked and the events that occurred held my interest, but it does have a rather directionless feel.
