GOYA IN BORDEAUX
aka GOYA IN BURDEOS
Year: 2000
USA: Sony Pictures Classics
UK: Downtown Pictures
Cast: Francisco Rabal, Jose Coronado, Daphne Fernandez, Maribel Verdu, Eulalia Ramon, Joaquin Climent, Cristina Espinosa, Jose Maria Pou, Saturnino Garcia, Carlos Hipolito
Director: Carlos Saura
Countries: Italy / Spain
Language: Spanish (English Subtitles)
UK: 104 mins
USA Rated: R for some sexuality and violent imagery
UK Certificate: 15 for one moderate sex scene
USA Release Date: 15 September 2000 (Limited Release - Los Angeles and New York)
UK Release Date: 29 September 2000
Synopsis
Francisco de Goya (Paco Rabal), 82 years old and living in exile in Bordeaux with the last of his lovers, Leocadia Zorilla de Weiss (Eulalia Ramon), reconstructs the main events of his life for his daughter Rosario (Daphne Fernandez) - a life in which political upheaval, poisoned passions and the demands of fame follow swiftly one upon the other. He remembers how the young, ambitious Goya (Jose Coronado) boldly fights his way up the slippery slope of the court of Charles IV, where fame and fortune live side by side with palace intrigue, seductions and lies. He recalls his only true love, the Duchess of Alba (Maribel Verdu), a woman who changed both Goya and the history of their times, whose life was cut short by the poison of conspiracy.
Little by little, GOYA IN BORDEAUX unravels the mysteries of an artist and genius who never abandoned his deep concern for his country and for his people. The era of light and color of the Bourbon Court opens a pathway for the same Goya who, at the age of 46, went deaf - a turning point in his work. While it was becoming clear in Spain that the days of absolutism, under the new pressures of the Enlightenment, were numbered, the Aragonese painter discovered a new world of creation in his dark paintings and his "caprichos."
GOYA IN BORDEAUX is a visual and aesthetic reconstruction, unraveling the mystery of a life and work which are intimately linked to history and to the heart of Spain and Europe.