Mr. Floppy 03.15.08: Goya's Ghosts
Posted by Peter Bielik on 03.15.2008
Javier Bardem with a slightly better haircut.
I used Javier Bardem's name in the teaser as because of his performance in No Country for Old Men, his fanbase has rapidly increased. For people seeking out movies in which Bardem delivers (there's a lot of them), you need to look no further.
Even though this week's movie isn't exactly a masterpiece, it's very good and it can be honestly said that the actors had a lot to do with it's overall goodness.
And in the vein of the highly asexual hero from No Country for Old Men, Bardem plays a devoted catholic in this film. Come to think of it, he also played a homosexual writer in Before Night Falls and a qudariplegic in The Sea Inside. All roles very different from the standard depictions of men and their sexuality in movies. I think I may be on to something. Or I could be just giving free way to my thoughts, becasue it's essential that this article doesn't start with the picture below, but instead with a couple words stringed together.
Regardless, if you like Bardem as an actor, seek this movie out, because he really gives a terrific performance. Now let's provide some more information about just exactly what I'm suggesting that you go and see.
Year of the cock-up: 2006
Budget: $30,000,000
Domestic gross: $1,000,626
Foreign gross: $7,186,207
Worldwide gross: $8,186,833
"I hate biopics. They're basically tabloids transferred to celluloid."
This is a quote by none other than the director of Goya's Ghosts, Milos Forman. Of course, it's funny when such claim comes from a director who has quite a few biopics on his resume —Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon.
It's probably the nature of these real-life stories and the respective personas that attracted Forman in the first place. Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon all share a common concept- i.e., the never-ending conflict between a talented, unique personality and the boring, conformist and envious average man. This element can be seen in all three mentioned films as Mozart, Larry Flynt and Andy Kaufman were all definitely talented in their respective fields, but they always hit the wall comprised of people either unable to understand their vision, or people who understood just fine, but in spite of the understanding (or because of it) still wanted to stop them dead in their tracks. Goya's Ghosts is the brand new addition to Forman's list of impressive biopics, albeit in a different vein this time around. As you've undoubtedly guessed from the title, Andy Kaufman, Larry Flynt and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are now joined by Francisco Goya- a Spanish painter, or a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history to be a little bit more specific. Goya is well-known both for his precise and grand portraits of royal families, as well as the depictions of the darkest of nightmares that tormented his soul.
Because of Goya's position as a chronicler, in the movie, he serves as a doorman to Spain in an era, where the society was bound by the fear of Inquisition (which, as we all know, nobody expects). As such, the movie isn't as concerned with Goya's life, but more with the many happenings surrounding it.
Milos Forman's last film before Goya's Ghosts was Man on the Moon from 1999. It took seven years for the acclaimed director to find another topic he found interesting enough to once again stand behind the camera.
The Spanish Inquisition was a thing that interested Forman all the way back to his student years. Because of the political climate in then Czechoslovakia however, he knew full well that he was never going to be able to get a project like this done, so he abandoned this idea for many years until shortly after Amadeus' premiere. As part of the publicity tour for the film, Forman resided in Madrid, Spain for a short while and coincidentally enough, it was right across the street from the famous Prado gallery. It was at this time that Forman really started to get into Goya's work as the artists' paintings brought events of 18th century Spain as close to life as possible.
Forman's enthusiasm for the project got producer Saul Zaentz on board, a long-time friend and collaborator of Forman (he produced Amadeus and One flew over the cuckoo's nest). Later, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere (who worked with Forman on Valmont and Taking off) was also brought to the project. Carriere remembers: "Milos didn't particularly want to make a biopic about Goya's life, but instead a movie about Spain in that time period."
Together, Carriere and Forman wrote the script and came up with the story of the artist Goya, the inquisitor Lorenzo and a woman between the two men- a young model Ines. It took another 20 years however, before Goya's Ghosts were translated from the page to the screen.
During his life in the USA, Forman many times commented on his experiences in the socialist Czechoslovakia and how the communist regime oppressed its people. These experiences also found their way into Forman's work in the form of several metaphors. He knew full well what totalitarian oppression means, so he had no problem in defending the long-haired hippies resenting the Vietnam War in Hair, or Larry Flynt who's making money from shamelessly exploiting sex. But Forman himself has stated he never worked on a story that was so parallel to the situation in Czechoslovakia which he knew and left. In an interview discussing the upcoming production of Goya's Ghosts, the director exclaimed: "Inquisition did the same thing as the communists. It promised the believers a paradise and in the interest of better tomorrows tortured people to confess to crimes they didn't commit."
Just like already mentioned, Francisco Goya serves merely as a guide to the story of Spanish society at the time. The director says: "Above all, Goya was a tremendous observer. He portrayed what he saw. He painted the royal family, but at the same time he didn't stop observing everyday life in the streets. He went to taverns and made paintings of ordinary people and soldiers. He understood everyone, not just aristocracy."
As the production slowly started to develop over the long years, Forman also started to think about who to cast as the central trio of characters. For the part of Goya, Forman initially had Javier Bardem in mind. As the script changed over the years however, Goya's role in the film became less significant and opposed to that, the role of Brother Lorenzo, an inquisitor that believes the church can build a better world using brutal methods, was slowly developing into a leading character. Both Saul Zaentz and Milos Forman agreed the film wouldn't work as well with Goya as the main character, but they still wanted to keep Javier Bardem as the lead so he was offered the part of Lorenzo which he accepted.
Forman is also well-known for his unorthodox casting decisions. He likes to experiment and give important roles to unproven commodities that never fail to impress (Jim Carrey, Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, etc.). That's why he decided to cast Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård (Pirates of the Caribbean 2&3, King Arthur, Good Will Hunting) as Francisco Goya.
The third part of the triangle, the role of Ines was given to Natalie Portman, whose casting also wasn't what you would consider usual. Forman didn't see any of her films, he chose her because of a front-page photography in Vogue, on which Portman resembled a girl from Goya's painting called Milkmaid of Bordeaux. He found out only later that the girl from the cover is one of the most talented young actresses out there. And the talent was definitely needed as Portman basically played 3 different characters- unconcerned Ines before being arrested, Ines after spending 15 years in prison and finally Alicia, daughter that Ines gave birth to in prison.
The cast was pretty sound and so was the name of the director, but you know how it works in Hollywood- you're only as good as your last movie. Forman's last film before Goya's Ghosts was Man on the Moon, which even though a great film was a complete financial flop. Because of this failure, Forman had trouble getting studios interested in his next project, as well as raising budget for it. After much trouble, the film was granted a budget of $30 million, which isn't exactly much when we're talking about a big historic movie and unfortunately it's also quite visible on the final product.
The film could be saved if it turned out to be another Forman's masterpiece, recreating the glory days of One flew over the cuckoo's nest or Amadeus, but it failed at this ambition as well. The critics' response was mixed and the film wasn't well-liked by the Spanish, because of the numerous historical inaccuracies that plagued the story.
In USA, the film was downright ignored as it never found a distributor that would put the movie anywhere outside of a few movie clubs. Because of this, Goya's Ghosts were unable to make any money in the US and the producers had to hope for the interntational earnings to save then.
The box-office from the rest of the world didn't provide with a surprise however and the final worldwide tally for Goya's Ghosts is $8,186,833. That's an extremely low number for any film and the producers can only thank their lucky stars they didn't invest more money in the film. Then again, if they did, the result might have been quite different.
Milos Forman is one of my favorite directors. I love Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon. His One flew over the cuckoo's nest still stands as one of my all-time favorite movies and was the film that made me interested in movies outside of mainstream back when I was in my early teenage years (although it's no indy, underground stuff by any means).
I've seen Goya's Ghosts and while it wasn't entirely bad, it certainly was flawed. It definitely could have used more time (the film's only 113 minutes long) for character as well as story development, a bigger budget as previously stated and a better script. If you liked Forman's previous films, you should give this one a try as it's not a waste of your time.
Forman's big misfortune is that he is known for making two of the most amazing films ever, plus a healthy dose of great films, so naturally when a movie of his that is just good comes out, it's destined to be a disappointment.
I don't think there is anyone more at fault for Goya's Ghosts flopping than the director himself. The movie was his idea, he pushed for it being made, he wrote the script and he decided to go with the production even though the budget was low. Yup, it's an undisputed winner.
He has no announced projects as of 2008 and truth be told, with his body of work and at his age, he can happily just lay back and scratch his belly. If he does return to directing again, let's just hope he picks a better script and gets a budget more suitable for the production.
Since Goya's Ghosts were a Milos Forman vehicle, I hereby award him the title Mr. Floppy.
It's Easter next week, so it's once again that time of year to enjoy the healthy dose of religious films that are once again going to flood our TV screens. Hopefully, I'll find something that'll somehow fit the theme of that holiday somewhere in the anals of movie industry. If I don't, I'll buy you all nice chocolate eggs filled with cream. You have my word.
