Goya - Francisco Rabal

Without doubt one of Spanish cinema's finest actors, Francisco Rabal is not only a myth of European cinema, with almost a hundred films to his name, he has also received many international awards (amongst them Best Actor at Cannes, San Sebastien and Montreal) and won the affection of a public which fell in love with his role as "Juncal" in the eponymous TV series of the same name, broadcast worldwide. He has worked with award-winning directors like Fernando Trueba, Pedro Almodovar, Alain Tanner, Claude Chabrol, Bigas Luna, William Friedkin and Vicente Aranda.

In "Goya in Bordeaux," Francisco Rabal plays the mature Goya, still possessed with incomparable talent, who continues to work as he reveals to his small daughter, Rosario, his memories of a life filled with light and shadow. His brilliant, hopeful beginning, in an unstable and envious court. His turbulent emotional life, in which murder and disease play their parts. His complex relationship with the government of Jose Bonaparte. His particular vision of eighteenth-century society, both exalted and caricatured in his engravings and paintings. And finally the exile years in Bordeaux, dedicated to deepening his artistic vision - a vision which centuries later will continue to surprise specialists and to influence artists from all over the world.

"Goya was a countryman, a stubborn man, who held very strong principles. He didn't have an easy old age - he went deaf, which distanced him from the world and sharpened his mind.

"There is one beautiful sentence which defines Goya to perfection. 'If he'd been better educated, this man would not have been so great.' That's what they said about him."

Goya: "The chance of transforming Spain gave my life sense. As far as my strength and art allowed, I was totally committed to that."
(Extract from the script of "Goya in Bordeaux").

Selected Filmography of Francisco Rabal

1998 "El Evangelio de Las Maravillas," by Arturo Ripstein
1997 "Pequenos Milagros," by Eliseo Subiela "Water Easy Reach," by Bent Hammer "Pajarico," by Carlos Saura
1996 "Le Jour et La Nuit," by Bernhard Henri-Levi "Airbag," by Juanma Bajo Ulloa
1995 "Asi en El Cielo Como en La Tierra," by Jose Luis Cuerda "El Palomo Cojo," by Jaime de Arminan
1991 "L'Homme Qui a Perdu Son Ombre," by Alain Tanner 1989 "Atame," by Pedro Almodovar
1988 "A Time of Destiny," by Gregory Nava
1986 "Tiempo de Silencio," by Vicente Aranda "La Storia," by Luigi Comecini
1984 "Los Santos Innocentes," by Mario Camus "Los Zancos," by Carlos Saura
1983 "Truhanes," by Miguel Hermosa
1981 "Renacer," by Bigas Luna
1977 "Sorcerer," by William Friedkin
1966 "Belle de Jour," by Luis Bunuel
1965 "Marie Chantal Contre Le Docteur Kha," by Claude Chabrol
1961 "L'Eclisse," by Michelangelo Antonioni