i be go to recommend put this one in the skip it pile as well . i be mildly excite by the concept when my fiancée rent it and and a bit more excited when i saw that milos forman direct it . ah and well . the costume be nice and sure and but they be typical . there be nothing about them that say they be from anywhere but the period costume department of any major hollywood studio . there be no distinction between spanish and british and french everyone dress like they be at court in versailles . the set somehow do not evoke the quality of the setting the prison do not feel like a prison and the mansion do not feel like mansion and and the outside scene look like they be film on a back lot and for all that they be probably practical location . the score be dramatically less than it could have be . i have be a fan of film score since my youth and noticing and appreciating and collect them and by which i mean more than john williams . my fiancée be a professional film composer and an award winner who have have her work perform at lincoln center and and a rise star in the industry . at the start of the film and we have high hope for it and and it do indeed start off nicely . it rapidly deteriorate and and at several point include the scene of the release of the prisoner it actually reach a level of annoyance . i actually reach for the remote to turn down the volume . the score be never anything more than the most obvious choice for score a specific tone of scene and and do not integrate itself into the soul of the film ( think of the music in babel and you will have an idea of what i mean ) . it never attain the grandeur it want to and but then neither do the film . javier bardem and as talented a he be and be awful . for the first part of the film and his mannerism be so distract that it take over his performance . during the second half and everything that be his character in the first half be go and replace by an entirely different set of annoy mannerism and and he look like the love child of keith richards and stuart townshend lestat . i never get the idea that he care about the role ( which be to say and that the character care about his life and action ) and or that the character be ever draw by the writer a anything more than an opportunist who and for whatever reason and change his mind and decides to stick by his principle at the end . natalie portman be very good and although her performance lack the shade of increase insanity between her release from the prison and take lorenzo hand at the end that i would have need to call it truly an effective performance . the character of alicia be never define enough to truly discern and and if it weren not for the superb makeup on her eye and cheek and someone see the beginning of the film and the end wouldn not know they weren not the same character . the prosthetic teeth be horrible and artificial and distracting and but that no knock on ms. portman . stellan skarsgård be fine a goya . not oscar worthy and but serviceable and generally believable . i do not know much about the life of goya and or his deafness and but it seem to be tack on to the movie a a requirement of biographical information and rather than anything that be utilize in the film . i be sure it affect goya life much more than just require the need of an interpreter and but you would never know it from watch this . for the record and word and sound can only be correctly interpret roughly 30 % of the time through lip reading . don not get me start on randy quaid . at least he be a minor character . the script read like one of the choose your own adventure book i use to read a a kid represent at several moment through the film and several outcome be possible and and none of the action precede them lead with any certainty to the way the film actually play out . ironically and the film be also predictable and especially it meager attempt at leaven the mood through small bit of humor . the joke about the hand . maybe it because i paint ( not well ) a a hobby and know what a pita hand be to draw or paint and but i saw the joke come a mile away and as well a the reprise in the second half . be the baby ever there for any other reason other than to be take by ines . there might as well have be a line of bread crumb . disappointing . ( note represent this review be a copy of a reply i make to a thread in the forum ) .