Epic historical saga has all the twists and turns of a thriller. Even the occasional mis-step adds to the excitement. Artist Goya (Stellan Skarsgard) spends the movie trying to negotiate the contrasting threats of the Spanish Inquisition and the Napoleonic Wars. But the heart of the movie lies with Javier Bardem (initially a priest) and Natalie Portman (Goya’s model) and their devastating journeys through the years. It’s a rollercoaster of a film that will keep you glued to see what happens next and will stay with you afterwards.
The preview gives a hint of the film it could have been. Despite a famous director, good individual performances from the actors and powerful historical and emotional material somehow it just didn't hang together. Too slow at the start and then too much history crammed into too little time may have been one of the problems.
Beautiful and evocative to look at, but doesn't seem to shed any light on Goya and not too much more on what was a very turbulent and interesting time. Lorenzo's is the most interesting character but it remains more hinted at than explored and the plot, while it may actually get less improbable as time goes on, never really seems to amount to much beyond a sequence of semi-incredible events. But then this is an incredible era. Maybe some day we'll see a director's cut that will restore some much-needed substance to this film, but as it is it seems as though the execution (not a pun) hasn't quite matched the concept. Nonetheless, I would say it's worth watching. I saw it some years ago and, like many of Forman's films, it sticks in my mind.