Goya en Burdeos

This is a highly theatricalized vision of the notorious exiled painter. Picture was originally directed by Carlos Saura and filmed with a pervasive melancholy that does for slow drama . It is is an emotive biography (1746-1828), involving 18-19th century famed Spanish painter named Francisco De Goya Lucientes (Francisco Rabal and as young played by Jose Coronado) and famous model (Maribel Verdu) for the famed painting . It's a slow vision of Saragossan painter Francisco Goya Lucientes' last days in Burdeos , ill and deaf , as he wanders through the streets and remembers the citizens uprising against Napoleon troops . It portrays his relationship with historic personages as Duchess of Alba (Verdu) , Moratin (Joaquin Climent) , Bayeu and the scheming favorite Godoy (Jose Maria Pou). As Goya observes and reminds events, dances , parties , inquisition , French invasion that inspired his work ; as his reveries become tableaux of his paintings . As the highlights of the movie result to be when are brought to life scenes of known paintings as ¨Disasters of war¨, ¨Saturn devouring his sons¨, ¨portrayal of Carlos IV family¨,¨, ¨Los Caprichos¨ , ¨Black paintings¨ , and lithographs , among others . Two of Goya 's best known paintings are The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja . They depict the same woman in the same pose, naked and clothed, respectively. Without a pretense to allegorical or mythological meaning, the painting was "the first totally profane life-size female nude in Western art" . The identity of the Majas are uncertain. The most popularly cited models are the Duchess of Alba , with whom Goya was sometimes thought to have had an affair, and Pepita Tudó, mistress of Manuel Godoy; Godoy subsequently owned them .

This is a costumer based on facts but predominates the slow-moving drama full of flashbacks with surrealist images , nightmarish scenes and colorful set-pieces . The picture relies heavily on relationship between Goya , his wife Leocadia played by Eulalia Ramon (real life spouse to Saura) , his daughter performed by Dafne Fernandez and Duchess of Alba acted by Maribel Verdu . Glamorously and sumptuously photographed by Vittorio Storaro , Bernardo Bertolucci's usual . Lavishly produced by Andres Vicente Gomez , the gowns are extravagantly magnificent ,luxury rooms and paintings pass by in front of your eyes and spectacular though theatrical production design . The sets are superb, at least as good as any other period piece films directed by Saura , furthermore great intervention by the group Furia Del Baus who carries out rousing choreography . Emotive and evocative musical score by Roque Baños. The motion picture is well directed by Carlos Saura , a good Spanish movies director. He began working in cinema in 1959 when he filmed ¨Los Golfos ¨(1962) also dealing with juvenile delinquency . Saura is a well recognized filmmaker both nationally and internationally, and in proof of it he won many prizes among which there are the following ones: Silver Bear in the Berlin Festival for ¨ La Caza or The Chase¨ (1966) his most successful film , and for Peppermint Frappé (1967), in 1967. Special Jury Awards in Cannes for La Prima Angélica (1974), in 1973, and for Cría Cuervos (1976), in 1975. Also, the film Mamá Cumple Cien Años (1979) got an Oscar nomination in 1979 as the best foreign film, and it also won the Special Jury Award at the San Sebastian Festival. In 1990, he won two Goya , The Spanish Oscar , as best adapted screenplay writer and best director. Saura became an expert on Iberian musical adaptations as ¨Carmen , Amor Brujo , Bodas De Sangre , Sevillanas ,Iberia , Salome, Fado, Flamenco ¨ and even recently Opera as ¨Io , Don Giovanni

Other films dealing with Goya's life are : ¨The Naked Maja¨ (1958) by Henry Koster with Anthony Franciosa and Ava Gardner ; ¨Goya¨ by Nino Quevedo also with Francisco Rabal ; ¨Los Desastres De Guerra¨ TV series by Jose Ramon Larraz with Enric Majo as Goya , ¨Volaverunt¨ (1999) by Bigas Lina with Penelope Cruz , Jordi Molla and Jorge Perugorria as Goya .

This movie portrays very well the Spanish history and like his last movies, Carlos Saura makes art out of the illumination and the colours. As usual, Paco Rabal is magnificent and Maribel Verdu is perfect for the role of la Duquesa de Alba, very sensual and a little evil.

A brilliantly rich expression of the medium of painting through that of the cinema, a rare if not a unique achievement. Another reviewer refers to the "moving painting" of Peter Greenaway, and this film does indeed call to mind The Draughtsman's Contract. The dying painter relives in pictorial terms episodes of his life, artistic, political and personal, in between asking himself the questions "Where am I?" ("¿Donde estoy?"), lost in the streets of Bordeaux at the beginning of the film, and "Who am I now?" ("¿Quién soy ahora?"), as he lies on his death-bed, the two Spanish verbs distinguishing between the physical being and the existential one. The film is articulated to a large degree by Goya's three sources of inspiration, Velázquez (space), Rembrandt (light) and the imagination, but more by Goya's apocalyptic portrayals of the suffering of the Spanish in the Napoleonic Wars after the disillusionment of the French Enlightenment. Goya en Burdeos is to painting what Babettes Gæstebud and The Dead are to the celebratory feast.

The photography is admittedly fascinating as is the dance and music, but the movie is very talkey and with no sustaining plot it soon seems clautrophobic and dull. Occasionally their are scenes outside which comes as truly a breath of fresh air. True this is supposed to be about Goya dying, but there is little drama in that since it is a foregone conclusion.

The visual appeal of the film is exceptionally strong, from costuming to the sparse Jarmanesque sets, to the period settings. The part of Goya is superbly played. Yet too often the character's, mostly that of Goya himself, stoop to uttering banal platitudes about art, about freedom, about life.

There is also a bit too much docu-nonsense in the film. Surely with the advent of the Biography channel one need not waste precious feature film time rehearsing an Art-101 bio of the man. One can find that elsewhere. What a waste.

Still for the look and mood of the film and the quality of acting, I'd recommend it pretty strongly.

I also recommend watching this film close on the heels of Jarman's Carravagio in order to understand why films about art really must avoid talking too much. Jarman's film is difficult, but it doesn't annoy one with the hubris of always trying to explain genius the way Saura's film does.