Whether they be contemporary (Randall McMurphy of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest; the titular porn tsar of The People Vs Larry Flynt) or from history (Amadeus, Valmont), director Milos Forman loves his rebels.

Consequently, his latest period saga introduces us to celebrated painter Francisco Goya (Skarsgard) through drawings which are causing consternation among the ranks of the Spanish Inquisition (led by the ever-villainous Michael ‘Moonraker’ Ironside).

Their qualms are allayed by self-serving Father Lorenzo (Bardem) who needs Goya at liberty - at least until his portrait completed.

But while Goya’s bacon is saved, his favourite model Ines (Portman) is pronounced a Jew after turning up her nose at a pork roast. A tortured confession leaves her rotting in prison with all the other heretics.

Goya seeks Lorenzo’s help, but the duplicitous priest merely takes advantage of the girl. The tables are turned when Ines’ father – a wealthy merchant - asks the question of Lorenzo (‘The Question’ being an eye-watering method of extracting confessions).

The ensuing fortunes of Goya, Lorenzo and Ines unfold through the tumult of early 19th-century Spanish history.

Napoleon’s ‘liberation’ of Spain marks the end of the Inquisition (temporarily), setting Ines free and finding Lorenzo in a new but equally duplicitous role. Then the British arrive and everything changes once again.

Bardem is marvellous as Lorenzo, and Portman expertly carries off, in effect, three roles: young Ines, post-jail Ines, and Ines’s daughter Alicia. She is officially pardoned for V For Vendetta.

But despite Skarsgard’s best efforts to give him colour, Goya – nominally the hero - is dramatically weak; a cipher acting as a conduit between Lorenzo and Ines.

His deafness is little more than a sideshow and his only rebellious acts involve painting unflattering images of the Church and of Queen Maria Luisa, wife of King Carlos IV (played with surprising panache by Randy Quaid).

Elliott Noble