Goya en Burdeos (1999)

Director:

Carlos Saura

Writers:

Carlos Saura (writer)
Luigi Scattini (dialogue: Italian version)

Release Date:

12 November 1999 (Spain)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | War

Plot:

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), deaf and ill, lives the last years of his life in voluntary exile in Bordeaux...

Plot Keywords:

Bordeaux | Flashback | Duchess | Painting | Dream Sequence

Awards:

12 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Francisco Rabal	...	Goya
José Coronado	...	Goya joven
Dafne Fernández	...	Rosario (also as Dafne Fernádez)
Eulalia Ramón	...	Leocadia
Maribel Verdú	...	Duquesa de Alba
Joaquín Climent	...	Moratín
Cristina Espinosa	...	Pepita Tudó
Josep Maria Pou	...	Godoy (as José María Pou)
Saturnino García	...	Cura / San Antonio
Concha Leza	...	Mujer en Andalucía
Franco di Francescantonio	...	Doctor en Andalucía
Carlos Hipólito	...	Juan Valdés
Manuel de Blas	...	Salcedo
Pedro Azorín	...	Braulio Poe
Emilio Gutiérrez Caba	...	José de la Cruz

Also Known As:

Goya in Bordeaux (UK) (USA)
Goya (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality and violent imagery.

Runtime:

Argentina:107 min | Canada:102 min | Germany:106 min | Spain:106 min

Country:

Spain | Italy

Language:

Spanish | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:M | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Peru:14 | Singapore:R(A) | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Italian International Film

Goofs:

Factual errors: In some copies on the film, when Goya's daughter Rosario is showing him her drawing, sitting on an easel in the background we see "La lechera de Burdeos/The Milkmaid of Bordeaux", one of the artist's last paintings. The image we see is reversed - the milkmaid is facing to the right and in the original she faces to the left. This is so due to the fact that the negative of some DVDs and some release prints is inverted in a brief middle section of the film that includes this scene. Another scene is that in which he is commissioned to paint the frescoes of San Antonio de la Florida Chapel.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Frida (2002)

Soundtrack:

Minuet, op. 13 No. 5

Artistically wonderfull, but a bit too much cliche

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.