Ghosts of Goya

1792 year . The plot of the film takes place during the reign of Charles IV , whose court painter was the famous Francisco Goya . At the dawn of the Napoleonic Wars, the Holy Inquisition intensified in Spain .

Among other things, Ines, the daughter of a wealthy merchant Tomaso Belbatua, who could even be called Goya's muse, falls into her dungeon, as it was her face that the painter regularly depicted in paintings and frescoes. The young girl is accused of secret adherence to Judaism , because she refused to eat pork in the tavern and fell into the sight of the holy fathers. They torture her on the rack and refuse to let her out.

Ines' father, in search of his daughter’s salvation, turns to Goya, who at that time was working on a portrait of Lorenzo’s father, an influential inquisitor priest. Lorenzo visits the girl in the prison of the Inquisition, where he rapes her. With the help of the artist, Tomaso lures the priest to a dinner party and, under torture, forces him to sign a compromising admission that he is a monkey. The priest signs this, unable to bear the torment, and understands: the confession obtained from him under torture is no different from his own confession Ines. He promises to help free the girl, but the Inquisition does not let her go, because this will contradict all the rules. After the publication of his signed confession, Lorenzo hastily hides.

The tortured Ines leaves the dungeons of the Inquisition only 15 years later, with the arrival of the Napoleonic army in Spain, which abolished the Inquisition. Together with Napoleon’s brother , the viceroy in Spain, the former father of Lorenzo returns, who is now not a monk, but an exemplary family man, a faithful follower of Voltaire and Didro , as well as an influential official of the Napoleonic regime.

In the city the occupiers are atrociously rampant. The Ines family is killed. She herself comes to Goya and asks for help finding her daughter born in custody. Now Goya's muse is a tortured, half-mad woman. An elderly and deaf, but still influential painter turns to Lorenzo for help. Lorenzo sends Ines to a madhouse, and he begins the search for his illegitimate daughter.

Goya accidentally meets Alicia, daughter of Ines, - she is very similar to her mother, who she was 15 years ago. She earns a living by prostitution . Goya tells Lorenzo about it and he inquires about her by contacting the shelter. Lorenzo tries to give Alicia money and send her to America , but does not tell her that he is her father. Frightened by his pressure, she runs away from him. Goya manages to redeem Ines from the insane asylum and he leads her to a meeting with her daughter, but by order of Lorenzo, a raid begins at the tavern, into which Alicia falls, and she, like other prostitutes, is taken to America for shipment. Mother and daughter missed each other for a few minutes.

Francisco accuses Lorenzo of the act he committed, but their argument is interrupted: the arrived messenger reports that Wellington’s British troops are entering Spain from Portugal, release prisoners from prisons and restore the authority of the church and king. The troops also meet a motorcade carrying girls. They are returned back to the city. Ines brings a newborn baby to Lorenzo’s house, who was left alone after a raid on the tavern, she believes that this is her daughter, whom she wants to show to her blood father.

Lorenzo with his family escapes from the city, but he is caught by shooting a horse. Members of the Inquisition previously sentenced to execution by him were released and ready to deal with their former colleague Lorenzo - not only as a traitor, but also as an apostate from the faith. He is offered to repent, return to the fold of the church and save his life, but he refuses.

The final scene is the public execution of Lorenzo. They carry him on a donkey and in a clownish cap, he throws the cross out of his hands, renouncing it again. They watch the execution: from the balcony - the king with his close associates and settled down among the English officers Alicia, from the crowd - the crazy Ines with a child in her arms, whom she shows Lorenzo with a smile. He also sees Francisco doing a sketch from nature with a pencil.

Lorenzo is executed, and Ines, with a smile and a child in her arms, blindly follows a cart carrying the body of the only man she knew in her life, holding the corpse by the hand. Children run around and sing a funny song. Behind them is Goya.

• “Goya, or the Hard Way of Knowledge”

• Official website
• Ghosts of Goya on the Internet Movie Database
• Ghosts of Goya on allmovie
• Ghosts of Goya on the Rotten Tomatoes website
• Ghosts of Goya on the Metacritic website
• The Ghosts of Goya on Box Office Mojo