Rating: 
Summary: Exquisite work of art
Review: A meditation on Goya's life, the ghosts that visit him in old age, and his universal legacy to art.This movie is unlike conventional films. The choreography between music and image is breathtaking. It is an exquisite blend of theater, dance, pantomime, music and painting. The attention to detail is truly impressive: Goya's technique, his preoccupations, the costumes, music, courtly politics, historical setting and color palette. It depicts with admirable economy 19th century Spain and its character, as that fascinating blend of turnmoil and fury, glory and beauty. Francisco Rabal is astonishing as Goya, his face a geographical self-portrait in itself. A rock of a man, rugged, provincial, unsophisticated, yet commanding an undeniable presence and a primitive virility, possessing a hyper-developed imagination and sensitivity. This is not easy to pull off by an actor, but Rabal *is* Goya. Goya is a profoundly masculine painter, yet women are never estranged in his art, neither excessively revered, nor resented and reduced. His taste for them, and their influence on him, is keenly felt. In the movie the painter reminisces on his affair with the indomitable Duchess of Alba, speculating that this was the great love of his life. A man capable of loving many women, and in many ways, we see the contrast with his last motherly wife. The director also recreates a tender relationship between the almost-ancient Goya and his young daughter, taking her fisrt teetering steps into adulthood. Near-death, Goya's mind is still as active as ever, but we sense that facing mortality has softened his edges. Conscience and guilt, the Duchess, have come to demand their dues. Carlos Saura's obvious love and admiration for his subject are contagious. When the movie was over, I felt more like I had been to a gorgeous live art performance than to the local movie theater. I had never seen anything like it, and I loved every second.
Rating:
Summary: Indeed, a masterpiece
Review: After seeing this film twice at the Vancouver Film Festival, visiting from my home in Mexico, I could hardly wait to own it, even though it was only available in VHS. I find it fascinating and disturbing that Saura's masterpiece, as non-linear and right-brained as any great work of art, should be maligned by critics such as Roger Ebert, and others. Here's to those who've written their praise for the film on these pages!
This is extraordinary creation, a fusion of both outer and inner realities that the logical mind cannot grasp - and why must it? Does it really matter what happened factually to Goya? Aren't those fiery skies and the music of Boccherini, reflecting the fire and brimstone in Goya's mind, enough to tell us that the film is mythic? Shakespeare did the same thing with his tragic heroes because the Elizabethans and the alchemists believed in "as above, so below". Macbeth's turmoil is reflected in the storms outside, and the bloody battles raging around him. Yet that's fiction and we believe this world is reality..
I buy few films, and I cherish this one. I'm still longing for "Providence" to come out on DVD because Resnais interweaves life and art from the same perspective...an old man, a writer, dying among his living, breathing creations. I live in an Mexico's oldest city, on a street named "Cinco de Mayo" Every day I'm reminded of Goya's painting, and this film is shown at least once a month on TV because the Mexicans love it - the Latin world has no problem suspending reality in the name of art - which is why Andre Breton called Mexico the ultimate surrealism. Thank you Saura, once again.
Rating:
Summary: A visual banquet
Review: Carlos Saura's "Goya in Bordeaux" is one of those rare, exquisitely crafted films that can truly be called a work of art. The paintings of the great Spanish artist, Goya, come to life in Vittorio Storaro's magnificent cinematography. The acting is flawless; the design and atmosphere, impecable. It's a movie for serious viewers directed by one of the world's genuine auteurs. This is caviar cinema par excellence!
Rating: 
Summary: Life of Goya (an Epic)
Review: Carlos Saura, one of the finest and most distinctive filmmakers in the Spanish cinema, wrote and directed this biographical epic concerning one of Spain's greatest artists, the painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. On his deathbed, Goya, attended by his mistress, Leocadia and their daughter, Rosario, is plagued by hallucinations and frequent visions of the beautiful Cayetana as his mind reels through the events of his life. As a young man, Goya became the court painter to King Charles and the Royal Family, where he created technically skillful but uninteresting portraits and was invited to a number of royal functions. At one such affair, Goya first met Cayetana, the Duchess of Alba, and he was immediately smitten; they became lovers, and she was both the subject and inspiration of several major works, including "Desnuda" and "La Maja Vestida." Goya's work developed a dark undercurrent after Napoleon invaded Spain and he took up with Leocadia, creating disturbing images that alienated his patrons and frightened his children. In time, the decline of the court and a changing political climate forced Goya to seek exile in France in 1824, where he would die four years later. Goya In Bordeaux was a project that Saura had dreamed of filming for years, and he was ably assisted in recreating the look of Goya's paintings by master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy the soundtrack.
Review: Director Saura has obviously seen Raul Ruiz's extraordinary adaptation of Proust's novel, 'Time Regained'. His plot - an old man looks back at his life and the way it shaped his art - and narrative techniques - the blurring of history, dream, memory, imagination, art; the easy weaving through time, where the same character at different ages walk in the same frame, or a character looks from one decade at a scene from another; the shifting mise-en-scene emphasising artifice, a lack of solidity, fragility, provisionality. Comparison with Ruiz only reveals Saura's faults - his stylistic heavy-handedness; the banality of his ideas; his reduction of everything to dance (there is a massacre sequence here of gobsmacking inappropriateness); the visual timidity (unable to match Goya, he defaces his works); the inability to construct compelling narrative or character. The one constant in Saura's career has been great music, and the insistent period dance rhythms almost convince you that you're enjoying yourself.
Rating:
Summary: What happened??
Review: Horrible, boring film from one of my top 10 favorite directors. The only thing worth seeing is the amazing "tiara" of candles that Goya (supposedly?) uses to paint at night. BORING!!
Rating:
Summary: What happened??
Review: Horrible, boring film from one of my top 10 favorite directors. The only thing worth seeing is the amazing "tiara" of candles that Goya (supposedly?) uses to paint at night. BORING!!
Rating:
Summary: love goya
Review: i don't watch too many foreign films, not really my kind of thing, but this is easily one of my favorite movies. has a wonderful look to it. if you like foreign movies you should check this out.
Rating:
Summary: Bold and beautiful
Review: It seems that the director approached making this film on the pretext that the viewer knows something about Goya, his art, and the time in which he lived. Without some of this background information, it may be rather difficult to watch. I wasn't particularly fond of the use of scrims, but it was interesting to see how their use translated on film-in fact, the whole film is approached more like a staged work than as cinema. In the end, it works. Incredible acting, great music, good representation of Goya's works.
Rating: 
Summary: An Exploration on the Role of the Artist in Society
Review: Saura's newest film follows in the tradition of <<Bodas de sangre>>, <<Elisa vida mia>> and his most recent film <<Tango>>. All explore the role of the artist as <<Creator>> within society. <<Goya en Burdeos>> is no exception. The film features Francisco Rabal, now the elderly Goya, who recounts his life to his young daughter in a series of artistic flashbacks, many of which cross the boundaries of time and space. Integral to the plot are his recollections of his affair with Cayetana, the famed Duchess of Alba, and who torments his thoughts throughout the course of the film bringing an element of reality to the artist's sometimes surreal world, a world where Goya's paintings serve as backdrops to illustrate the historical period. In addition, unusual lighting and music contribute to the film's artistic flare, all blending into a lush and virtual feast for the eyes. I truly enjoyed this creative experiment. It is a must for Saura fans and for those who enjoy Spanish art and history.
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