In her very pleasant memoirs ,Ava Gardner recalls Anthony Franciosa's very "actor's studio method " acting ,which she did not take seriously :his performance when he is delirious and when he proudly tells the Holy Office that the beauty of a woman was given to man by God is revealing;Gardner tells us how much time he spent wondering how he would play "THAT " scene ,how he would deliver "THIS" line.
Koster's direction is mediocre at best ,static and academic ,not even using Goya's art -what Vincente Minnelli did with Van Gogh in "lust for life" -;anyway as an user has already pointed out the Maja does not resemble Gardner and for a good reason: the picture was made for Manuel ,the villain of the movie ,and it represents his hot lover Pepita!The screenplay is confused ,it's a stodgy mixture of art,religion,intrigues ,irresolute king,wicked minister and Napoleon's army around the corner.
For all that,Mrs Gardner's extraordinary beauty survives and even if the movie does not satisfy,the simple fact of watching her will make your day.She would prove ,in her following movie ("on the beach") and even more in "the night of the iguana" that she could act ,and superbly act when she was given decent scripts to work with.
