Goya in Bordeaux

Movie Information

In Brief: While it's certainly visually striking and avoids being a standard biopic, Carlos Saura's Goya in Bordeaux comes with its own set of problems. First of all, Saura assumes that the viewer knows a lot more about Spanish painter Francisco Goya than is probable. Second, the film — with its transparent scrim walls — often feels like a stage production. Third — and most bothersome — it's all done at a very slow pace that tends to make it all feel like an academic exercise of notable stuffiness. That's too bad, because there are moments of brilliance here, and the performances of Francisco Rabal and Maribel Verdú are worth the film's longueurs.
Score:

Genre: Biographical Drama
Director: Carlos Saura (Tango)
Starring: Francisco Rabal, José Coronado, Dafne Fernández, Eulàlia Ramon, Maribel Verdú
Rated: R

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Goya in Bordeaux is only the second Carlos Saura film I’ve seen (the other being Tango). They’re very much of a piece — good-looking (they’re both photographed by Vittorio Storaro, so that’s a given) and inclined to be on the slow side. But Tango works better dramatically. Goya suffers from being a biopic that tries not to be a biopic, and in so doing loses much in the way of dramatic thrust. (It also assumes you’re awfully familiar with the life of Francisco Goya.) But setting that aside, the biggest problem is that its theatricality (scenes are shot with a lot of stage effects) is distracting and distancing, while the use of the paintings starts to feel like a lecture in an art class. There’s an extended sequence toward the end of Goya walking through diorama like representations of his war paintings. It’s very clever, but all I could think of was being taken to the Civil War Cyclorama in Atanta when I was a child — and I was just about as bored. (Though I’ll admit I don’t recall any full-frontal nude, hacked-up corpses bathed in green light in the Civil War display.)

 

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It’s not that Goya is a bad film. The performances are good — especially Francisco Rabal and Maribel Verdú — and there are individual scenes that are quite striking. It’s a film that starts well and then starts wandering around to no apparent point. The flashback structure of Goya recalling his life is a solid concept, but there seems only the slightest relation between those scenes and anything happening in the film’s present. I’d call it a failed experiment that’s worth a look, but I can’t imagine ever paying a repeat visit.

Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present Goya in Bordeaux Friday, Aug. 8, at 8 p.m. at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library).  Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

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