Wow, when things go wrong they really go wrong and Goya’s Ghosts is a primetime example of that fact as two-time Oscar winning director Milos Forman returns to the director’s chair for the first time since 1999’s Man on the Moon and manages to drag the good names of Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd, Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem through this miserable tale of boredom and depression.
It’s 1972 and the Catholic Church is at the height of its powers and due to turmoil in France the Spanish church brings back the Inquisition in an effort to combat against those whose loyalty to the church was thought to be insincere. The monk spearheading the process is Brother Lorenzo (Javier Bardem) and one of those people unlucky enough to get caught in his wake is Ines (Natalie Portman). Ines is then promptly accused, tortured (put to “The Question”) and finally imprisoned where she is raped by Brother Lorenzo.
You ready to see this one yet? Okay, maybe it is intriguing for an indie piece… I will admit, but hold on.
Cue Francisco Goya (SkarsgÃ¥rd). Ines just so happens to be the famed painter’s top model and he hopes his friendship with Lorenzo will assist in her release, but to no avail she remains in prison growing increasingly insane.
Fast forward 15 years. France invades Spain and those imprisoned by the Inquisition are set free, Ines included. However, her family is dead and she can only seek out her now deaf friend Francisco Goya. She looks like she has gone about 50 rounds with Mike Tyson and aged 100 years, she begins talking of a kid and Goya sets out to find the banished Lorenzo who is now Napoleon’s chief prosecutor living the high life in France. Seems about right.
Shocked to learn of an illegitimate baby with his rape victim of 15 years ago he attempts to cover things up offering care for Ines. The plotline of the child carries even more absurdity as the film trails off into its final moments growing increasingly implausible and tedious with every passing second.
When Milos Forman made Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest it seemed as if we could call him one of the greatest directors ever. I even liked The People vs. Larry Flynt, but never actually saw Man on the Moon. However, Goya’s Ghosts is an absolute travesty of a film and to think that Samuel Goldwyn Films is even willing to release this mess is shocking. Not once did I find myself interested in any aspect of this story as I could tell from the opening moments I was in for two of the longest hours of my life.
