The Naked Maja (1958)

Set against the backdrop of political intrigues at the court of Charles IV and with Napoleon breathing down their Spanish necks, this rather sterile drama tells of the Duchess of Alba (Ava Gardner) and her relationship with acclaimed artist Francisco de Goya. Her Highness had an habit of heading out of an evening and mixing with the public in a taverna, and that’s where she encounters Goya (Anthony Franciosa) after he finds himself involved in a boozy brawl. Next thing, the King (Gino Cervi) and the obviously sceptical Queen (Lea Padovani) have arrived to inspect some of his groundbreaking church frescos and appointed him court painter. This gives him ready access to the palace to paint the Bourbon family and, of course, to develop his rapport with the royal duchess. Meantime, her behaviour has irritated the queen and so she, in cahoots with their conspiratorial prime minister Godoy (Amedeo Nazzari), arranges for a banishment that will make any relationship nigh on impossible. The despairing Goya has no idea that her relocation has been enforced until he sets off to visit her and some truths emerge. What chance their love can thrive, or even survive? This is based on factual events and real people and given the fertility of those subjects, this ought to have been a far better drama that it is. Money has been spent and the film has a sumptuous look to it with stunning costumes and grand interiors, but the aloof Gardner just seems disinterested in her character from start to finish and there isn’t the vaguest whiff of chemistry between her any anyone at all, let alone the disappointingly wooden Franciosa whose lacklustre effort dragged this down throughout. The artistic elements of Goya's work and his Inquisition-attracting nude are hardly touched upon and in the end this just slogs along lethargically for what seemed a fairly long old two hours without really engaging. Perhaps if the Italian producers, or maybe even some Spaniards had been left free of Hollywood intervention to tell this story it might have been more visceral. As it is, it’s unremarkable stuff.