A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I have never heard of this film, never heard of this director, but a friend shoved a VHS copy in my hand and said, "WATCH THIS!" After watching it, I am still spellbound enough to comment on it.While I can't say I will bow down in awe to Saura, I was certainly captivated by his work with this film. GOYA is a glimpse into the artist's influences, his fears, and his feelings; it is a glimpse into the artistic process. I found Goya's journey fascinating, and I especially appreciated the non-linear storytelling approach. Rather than barreling through a series of events that define WHY Goya is the way he is and why he painted the way he did, the audience is, in effect, putting together the pieces of a big emotional puzzle. And how the puzzle fit together or didn't fit together was really what kept me enthralled for two and half hours. Anyone interested in art should pick up this film.

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.

I do not know the price tag for this film, but my guess is that they could have used more dough. The Napoleonic Wars are hard to do on a budget. Tableau representations of Goya's works were charming. They went on too long and the acting added in was pure ham. The whole thing seemed a disjointed mess to me. I was reminded of Ken Russell's "The Music Lovers" in which Richard Chamberlain has a poetic delirium from typhus. Goya was obviously an accomplished political artist, yet the film portrays him as a narcissistic bumbler. As an American, I was impressed with all the overtly sentimental sexism and ageism at the heart of the movie. Old men obviously all dote and drool. Young granddaughters obviously grin and bear it. Wink. Wink. It was all too wholesome to be surreal and too surreal to be taken seriously as history. I had great hopes for it, but I was disappointed.

I loved this movie, although it started out slow, and there was much symbolism. I found some scenes very touching, and found myself thinking about other scenes after the movie. The movie was very picturesque, but I found the music even more impressive. There was one score that was repeated all through the movie and during the end credits and I cannot get it out of my head. I hope to find the soundtrack somewhere. I should mention that there is not much of a storyline. This is the story of Goya's life, which as I understand is not very eventful. However, the story telling is just beautiful, and I couldn't keep my eyes of the screen, while my husband slept all through the movie.