Not being very familiar with Francisco Goya's work, I didn't enjoy Goya in Bordeaux as much as I could have. However, the film did spark enough interest in his contributions to modern art. Give Carlos Saura credit for doing that much for art teachers. His film will be more useful in art appreciation classes than it will for regular film consumption.

Goya in Bordeaux is gorgeous to look at, but there's not enough life to wake most viewers from their snooze. Promisingly, Saura begins with a long tracking shot through a surreal looking field of red dirt. As it passes over a severed bull's head, I realize we are in the middle of a Goya painting. This is confirmed when we see the rest of the carcass on a rack and see it wriggle around, and see its interior morph into the human head of Francisco Goya (Francisco Rabal) on his deathbed.

In Kubrickian 2001 fashion (there will be a bookend reference at the end with a finger pointing and baby scene), we see the 82-year-old artist wander down a surreal white hallway in his bedclothing and emerge into the streets of Bordeaux. His young daughter Rosario (Daphne Fernández) locates her father and guides him through the maze of onlookers, back to his bed.

What we now get is a series of flashbacks as Goya tells his daughter he will talk to her as a man talks to an intimate friend. Mostly what we see are images of Goya wandering around in his own paintings (reminiscent of Robin Williams in What Dreams May Come, except Goya only observes his paintings objectively instead of wallowing in the oils). We could have experienced Goya's paintings more effectively by heading to the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Unfortunately, Goya in Bordeaux rarely gives us any insight about the inner life of the father of modern art. For depth, substitutes the old master spewing platitudes about politics, love, humanity, and art to his daughter; the most striking images involve Goya slowly sleepwalking through masterpieces from his “black painting” period, such as the “Disasters of War” series. These serve as little more than amusement for art students, and for stirring up some interest among art-history neophytes.

Goya in Bordeaux does have some notable and memorable moments, such as the scene showing the 46-year-old Goya (José Coronado) deathly ill from an unknown illness that leaves him deaf and suffering from occasional extreme migraine headaches. There’s a great scene here in which Goya’s one great love, the Duchess of Alba, morphs into a living embodiment of death and approaches the younger Goya (before he screams and fends off his premature demise).

There are only two other scenes that allow Goya to go beyond observing the artist's works and providing some insights into his craft and character.

One occurs when Goya paints the voluptuous and sensuous nude Duchess (Maribel Verdú) and decides to really “get into” his subject matter. It's all done tastefully in a believable way without saccharine sentimentality. Later, Goya rather dispassionately describes how the envious Spanish queen, Maria Luisa, conspires with two-timing secretary Godoy (José Mariá Pou) to poison the Duchess.

If you're looking for artistic insights, there's not a lot there (despite the beauty of Goya's paintings), outside of the other memorable scene, which shows the deaf, middle-age Goya encounter a Velázquez painting and become mesmerized by its technique.

Art students will note that Goya in Bordeaux credits Velázquez, Rembrandt, and creative inspiration as the three most important influences on Goya. If you miss the first reference, they will repeat it. The film serves as little more than an elaborate art lesson with a few overdone dramatizations and a classical-sounding soundtrack that at times ups the volume a little too high.

Instead of delving deep into Goya's soul and exploring his sources of creativity, Goya in Bordeaux ends up serving as a pedestrian introduction to his works and supplying some tepid amusement for his connoisseurs. If you plan to see it, your viewing experience will be enhanced by conducting some research on the artist first..