I normally think Forman's films are good, especially with how 'alive' his characters are due to sometimes spot on casting or at least interesting choices. Goya's Ghosts isn't about the characters as much as it is about 'the situation', or 'the world' in which these never fully realized characters dwell in.

Scenes are short, the story not well paced and the film jumps around a lot. Though the characters, specifically Portman's (the main one of two characters she portrays in the film), don't seem to visibly age much at all but instead are treated with make up to appear more 'worn & battered.'

The film's title, a reference to the people in Goya's paintings, some of which (copies) actually get some screen time, who are supposed to be what the film's about, are simply whisked through the seemingly thrown together plot which rushes through scenes and years (of story) without actually illuminating the audience with more than a flicker of revelation as to who even Forman imagines they were like.

All in all, a big disappointment, a rush job, poor script and an ending without proper closure. One redeeming attribute to this mess of a story is the ever wonderful Javier Bardem and how wonderful he can play a character who one can despise so easily. A 2nd are the way too brief appearances by the great Randy Quaid whose resemblance to King Carlos IV, as depicted in Goya's paintings, is uncanny.