"When they said, "Repent!"/I wonder what they meant," so goes singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen in "The Future"; so goes Father Lorenzo(Javier Bardem), too, in "Goya's Ghosts" when church officials try to save his life, before they deem to take it away, corporeally, in the same breath, with just one crank, at the gallows. To the disappointment of art buffs, this former man of the cloth figures more prominently than Aragonese Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Director Milos Forman uses the same strategy to better effect in "Amadeus", the Academy Award-winner for Best Film in 1984, in which Antonio Sallieri's mediocrity("I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint.") took some of the film's locus away from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's genius. But "Amadeus" didn't stray far from the realm of art. "Goya's Ghosts", however, treats art like a footnote to the Spanish Inquisition. "Goya's Ghosts" is more about the relationship between art and religion, and between religion and government, than it is about art. Like "Zodiac", the main character becomes pro-active in the latter half of the film. In the David Fincher film, the editorial cartoonist turns into an investigative journalist. Here, the painter/printmaker becomes a whore wrangler. In other words, he's in the world, when most artists, especially somebody of Goya's stature, live in their own minds. Although Goya doesn't quite belong in the same pantheon of Pablo Picasso, or Edouard Manet; the Spainard, best known for "La maja desnuda" and "La maja vestida", he is considered a master, and should not be subjected to the degradation of having his likeness tied to a melodramatic plot point. He should be painting. But "Goya's Ghosts" has him seeking out a prostitute in a brothel, with the message that her mother is still alive. Goya deserves better than this.
Natalie Portman, plays both roles(Ines and Alicia), and in the case of the mother, she does her best "Monster" imitation. Portman lady-hams it up; you're always aware that she spent a lot of time in the makeup chair. Ultimately, it's distracting. Not only does Portman play ugly, she gets to weep a lot, too. What actress wouldn't take this role? But the film belongs to Bardem, now in possession of a recently-minted shiny, golden naked man. In the final scene, some moviegoers may think of Daniel Day Lewis' fate in Nicholas Hynter's adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". If John Proctor repents, he'll stave off execution. In "Goya's Ghosts", Lorenzo's fate is sealed, regardless of his confession. When Lorenzo was a padre, Ines' father demonstrated the considerable flaw in "The Question". Under torture, the subject will likely confess to anything. Lorenzo signs his name to a document that states he descended from monkeys. Now, with his life in the balance, would his steadfast refusal to rejoin God's fold be any different if a concession meant a stay on his very mortality.
Natalie Portman, plays both roles(Ines and Alicia), and in the case of the mother, she does her best "Monster" imitation. Portman lady-hams it up; you're always aware that she spent a lot of time in the makeup chair. Ultimately, it's distracting. Not only does Portman play ugly, she gets to weep a lot, too. What actress wouldn't take this role? But the film belongs to Bardem, now in possession of a recently-minted shiny, golden naked man. In the final scene, some moviegoers may think of Daniel Day Lewis' fate in Nicholas Hynter's adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". If John Proctor repents, he'll stave off execution. In "Goya's Ghosts", Lorenzo's fate is sealed, regardless of his confession. When Lorenzo was a padre, Ines' father demonstrated the considerable flaw in "The Question". Under torture, the subject will likely confess to anything. Lorenzo signs his name to a document that states he descended from monkeys. Now, with his life in the balance, would his steadfast refusal to rejoin God's fold be any different if a concession meant a stay on his very mortality.