“Amadeus director Milos Forman plunders the annals of European history again in Goya's Ghosts, which spans Spanish sagas from the Inquisition to Napoleon's invasion and consequent defeat by the British. But what of Goya himself? Rendering this period in stunning historical detail and with the sterling cast of Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem and Stellan Skårsgard, this apparent biopic turns out to be [an] … engaging, yet bumpy ride through torrid historical times.

   The film opens with the Inquisition questioning whether their Brother Lorenzo (Bardem) should sit for a portrait with the controversial Goya (Skårsgard). Meanwhile, they arrest and torture the artist's muse Ines (Portman) for being a Jew, after she turned her nose up at some roast pork. Goya aids Ines's wealthy family by introducing them to Lorenzo who, by an unlikely piece of plotting, is bullied into helping Ines but ends up raping her. With the big moral arguments of the film laid out, it then cuts to 15 years later and the arrival of the French to reintroduce the cast to each other…

   It's an unusual premise for a biopic, probing outwards into history rather than into the soul of the artist… Goya is the backbone, not the heart of the story; he’s an excuse to give more interesting threads something in common…”—BBCi-Films

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