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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 Skarsgard, this apparent biopic turns out to be a mostly 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 (Skarsgard). 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 fifteen years later and the arrival of the French to reintroduce the cast to each other, throw in some even more implausible plot twists and still not really tell us much about Goya.

"GOYA IS THE BACKBONE, NOT THE HEART"

It's an unusual premise for a biopic, probing outwards into history rather than into the soul of the artist, but Goya's Ghosts doesn't quite work. Goya is the backbone, not the heart of the story; merely an excuse to give more interesting threads something in common. Fair enough, artists are observers, but we knew that already. It's the titular painter who ends up being the ghost here, floating in the background of the action without truly contributing to it. Despite noteworthy attention to period detail in production and costume design, these are not enough to carry the film's confused plot.

Goya's Ghosts is released in UK cinemas on Friday 4th May 2007.