Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

In the following part of this sequence, the characters from the Romería a
San Isidro step out of the painting and approach Goya. When he looks up again,
the camera slowly zooms in on Goya’s face until only his right eye, part of his
right cheek and part of his forehead are seen. As the camera zooms in, Goya’s
face is superimposed by the advancing characters from his painting, headed by the
open-mouthed man he was working on at the beginning of the sequence. These
characters, who are still painted figures rather than human beings, advance toward
the camera which now remains stable and adopts Goya’s standpoint. The viewer
is thus put into the same immobilized position as the protagonist, unable to flee
from the formidable creatures. After a quick jump cut back to Goya, the camera
continues to focus on the forward-moving characters until the open-mouthed man
appears to be at arm’s length. When he seems to be moving out of the camera and
into the viewer’s living room, the camera jump-cuts to show Goya from above,
surrounded by the creatures of his imagination, thus changing both the perspective
and the camera angle. After circling around Goya’s head a few times, the camera
zooms out, along the full length of the table he is sitting at. But from this
panoramic view, the camera switches unexpectedly again back to a series of
close-ups of these painted faces which seem to be circling around Goya, thus
again adopting the artist’s own perspective. But once more, the camera cuts to a
high angle view, circling around Goya’s head, until the characters’ faces are
superimposed on his head. After more circular movements of their faces at eye-
level from Goya’s perspective, the artist’s face blends in and for a while, the
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