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Goya's Ghosts
EMAILPRINTThe Samuel Goldwyn Company

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jean-Claude Carrière
Milos Forman
Directed by: Milos Forman
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 20, 2007
DVD: February 26, 2008
Running Time: 114 minutes, Color
Origin: Spain
Summary
RATING: R for violence, disturbing images, some sexual content and nudity
Starring Javier Bardem, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, Randy Quaid, Blanca Portillo, Michael Lonsdale, José Luis Gómez, and Mabel Rivera
Goya’s Ghosts is a sweeping historical epic told through the eyes of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Set against the backdrop of political turmoil at the end of the Spanish Inquisition and start of the invasion of Spain by Napoleon’s army, the film captures the essence of beauty of Goya’s work which is best known for both the colorful depictions of the royal court and its people, and his grim depictions of the brutality of war and life in 18th century Spain. Brother Lorenzo, an enigmatic, cunning member of the Inquisition’s inner circle who becomes infatuated with Goya’s teenage muse, Ines when she is falsely accused of heresy and sent to prison. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Premiere Glenn Kenny
Ghosts is one of Forman's most ambitious and daring films; would that all of its ambitions were fulfilled.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Goya's Ghosts is like the sketchbook Goya might have made with a camera.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
An oddly structured tale about Francisco Goya and the Spain that he lived and worked in.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
There is so little emotionally or intellectually at stake in most popular entertainment that Goya's Ghosts, Milos Forman's challenging, compelling and wildly uneven film, shoots like a cannonball into the solar plexus. I can't remember when I've been so physically and mentally shattered.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Far from an embarrassment and a generally fine piece of work.
Read Full Review >Variety Jonathan Holland
Ambitious script is stranded between entertainment and intellectualism, leaving us with a magnificent folly, thoroughly watchable for its visuals but ultimately hollow.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Though not nearly as perfect as Amadeus and The People vs. Larry Flynt (to cite two of Forman's previous semibiographical efforts), Goya's Ghosts uses the lives of artists and historical figures to show us the best and the worst of our human impulses.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
Captures the essence of the period -- an intriguing, backward era in Spain -- but without the emotional impact that such a film requires.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Although the period feeling is convincing, Forman doesn't seem to know exactly what he wants to say about this intensely complex era - and that leaves his cast floundering.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Lavish production and wardrobe design, as well as beautiful cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe make Goya's Ghosts lovely to look at, but as a portrait of the artist, the movie is a letdown.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Below-the-line credits are terrific, which only increases an overwhelming sense of disappointment with the film's failed ambitions.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The film is mostly forced and heavyhanded. Forman first thought of using Goya to tell a story about the Inquisition several decades ago. Yet this movie appears to be as much about American behavior post-Sept. 11 as it is about 18th-century Spain or the Communist Czechoslovakia of Forman's youth.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Whatever the faults of Goya's Ghosts -- and there are several -- you've got to hand it to director Milos Forman: It takes real chutzpah to cast Randy Quaid as the king of Spain.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
The biggest tragedy about Milos Forman's foray into the life and times of Spanish artist Francisco De Goya is the waste of so much great raw material.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz
An unwieldy mix of political satire and lavish period soap opera.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The film's seriousness of intent is unimpeachable – Forman and Carriere see disturbing echoes of the modern world in 18th-century Spain -- but the execution borders on farce.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The movie is uneven in the extreme, to the extent that it feels like two imperfectly wed pictures. The first, while not extraordinary, at least contains some interesting ideas. The second borders on embarrassing: an overblown melodrama complete with coincidence building upon coincidence and plot threads that are left unresolved.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Charles Petersen
The film takes as many plot-twists as "Pirates of the Caribbean"; distinctly Goya in its emphasis on the grotesque, it shows none of the Spaniard's artistic economy.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
The whole thing is handsomely mounted, with plenty of Goya paintings and supposed observations about the ironies of history and the cyclical nature of life, etc. Forman's always been a huckster, but I never thought I'd see him waste this many good actors on a movie this bad.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Though much blood is shed, the film is bloodless.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
If Forman is trying to communicate that art isn't an effective way to change American society, he's proved his point neatly with this muddled, wandering dud.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
An overstuffed turkey that's entertaining for all the wrong reasons.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
The Spanish Inquisition was better summed up in an eight-minute musical number by Mel Brooks than in the entirety of Goya's Ghosts, an across-the-board disaster from one of my favorite directors, Milos Forman.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
In a season of digital bombast, it can be a relief to walk into a stodgy life-of-the-great-man costume drama. Goya's Ghosts, before it turns into a messy, horse-drawn load, achieves a civilized stuffiness that gives off its own mild pleasure.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Tony Tony gave it a9:
Superb acting From Skarsgard and Bardem. Some of the best so far from Portman. A very nice period piece.
Alla K. gave it a9:
Great movie, showing a true religious ungodly times.
Jay H. gave it a5:
5.5/10. Forman, Bardem, Portman. What happened?? It's not a bad film by any means, but with this talent, I would expect great. Superb sets and costumes, fine cinematography. The problem lies with the characters that don't involve you in the film. It isn't very deep, and a film of this nature needs that very much.
Adam M. gave it a10:
Very good film! It's really great, I remember it still, and I cannot forget about it.
Steve T. gave it an8:
The film doesn't deserve some of the negative reviews. The production design and sound design are Oscar-worthy, and Randy Quaid is delightful as the King.
Daniel gave it a10:
One of the most underrated movies so far this year.. This is Forman at his best. Wonderful cinematography, superb acting. A must seen.
Fred M. gave it a9:
Except for some of the fictional liberties the film takes, this portrait of Goya - and the dark period of Spanish history he lived in - is brilliant. It is as if Goya himself was behind the camera. The acting, the staging, the cinematography, and all aspects of the movie are impeccable presenting the audience an intellectually and emotionally challenging spectacle. The madness of the Spanish monarchy, the Inquisition, and the Napoleonic Wars all reflected in Goya's art become a haunting and unforgettable cinematic vision.
