 | Goya in Bordeaux Starring: Francisco Rabal, José Coronado, Daphne Fernández, Maribel Verdú, Eulalia Ramón |
| After several years of some impressive experimentation with film and music ("Tango", "Flamenco", "Blood Wedding", "Carmen") it's good to see Saura back on sound dramatic footing with a subject worthy of his talent. Being the last of the great masters and the first of modern artists, Goya was cursed with living at one of the more interesting times in the world's history. Appointed as the court artist to the King of Spain, legendary for his numerous affairs (particularly with the doomed Duchess of Alba), an illness at 46 which left him totally deaf, eyewitness to the French invasion by Joséph Napoleon and the horrendous slaughter of the Spanish people by the French troops, he ended his days, in exile for his liberalism, in the city of Bordeaux, France. It is in Bordeaux that Saura begins his film. Goya (Francisco Rabal) is 82 years old, confused, angry and dying. We see him wandering the misty streets of the city in his nightshirt, unable to comprehend where he is. Only the lovely, understanding face of Rosario (Daphne Fernández), his youngest daughter, brings him back to the real world as she leads him home. It would be difficult to call this film a biography of Goya for it tells his story in bits and pieces. Using Rosario as a device for Goya to relate his fragmentary thoughts of the past, Saura gives us a view from the dying eyes of Goya himself. We enter the dark haunted mind of this tortured artist. As if looking through a prism, we view the life of the Royal Court juxtaposed with the twisted horrid faces of the victims ravaged by war. This is Saura's great triumph. As Goya wanders through the corridors and rooms of his home, mumbling, painting on walls and experimenting with lithographs, we notice the walls become transparent. This theatrical effect would be better used for the stage. It is, however, a minor flaw. Once Saura and his brilliant cinematographer, Vittorio Storaro, get into full gear, the film takes on a surreal dreamlike quality that becomes a feast for the eyes and mind. When the young Goya (José Coronado) sees a painting of Velázquez for the first time, his face and eyes light up the screen. It's a remarkable moment in the film. "Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Imagination" becomes the theme of his life. During various flashbacks, Storaro's camera brings Goya's paintings to life. When Saura and Storaro re-create "Disasters of War," it becomes a haunting yet powerful cinematic moment. Rabal's performance, as the dying Goya, reaches the zenith of his long career as Spain's finest actor. Young Daphne Fernández gives a minimalist yet intriguing performance as Rosario. Lost in a world of silence, Goya (he has learned to read lips) relates his blurred past to Rosario. Slowly a deep understanding of the man and his work reach the viewer. When the old man painfully cries out on his deathbed, "Life has gone by like a quick breeze. I can't remember what it was like to be a child!" we come to realise that Saura has connected the fragments. Saura has touched greatness and his film is more than worthy of it's subject. Andre Malraux once said, "After Goya, we had modern art!" This film is sure to be nominated in the Best Foreign Film category. |