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

y strange creatures from his imagination, during a “sleep of reason” of the
artist’s mind. Unlike in the novel, however, the artist is here clearly at the mercy
of these demons. Unable to banish or dominate them, he has to wait until they
disappear.
The final dramatization of the Sueño de la razón takes place toward the
end of the film when Goya is called before the Inquisitor to justify and explain his
Caprichos. In particular, he is asked to elucidate the meaning of the caption of
plate 23, Aquellos polbos (From such dust such dirt must come), in which a
prostitute is brought before an Inquisition tribunal. The caption reads: “¡Mal
hecho! A una muger de onor, que por una friolera servía a todo el mundo, tan
dilijente, tan útil, tratarla así. ¡Mal hecho!” (qtd. in López-Rey 194). 172 When the
Inquisitor persists in asking Goya who does wrong to that woman, and Goya
finally answers “die Dämonen” (“the demons”), the dramatic ekphrasis begins: A
montage of various Capricho images, especially those of witches and demons
(e.g. Los Duendecitos, Volaverunt, Ya es hora), mostly in close-ups of detail
shots, fills the screen, interspersed with a close-up of the Inquisitor’s face. The
montage is interrupted by a glimpse of the growing stack of papers in front of
Goya which indicate the progression of the interview. At the moment when Goya
answers a question the viewer does not hear or read, declaring that he does
believe in God, the Sueño de la razón itself is projected in a medium shot,
showing the artist sitting at his desk, with the animal creatures around him. This
image starts another montage of further Caprichos, again with close-ups of the
172 “That is wrong! To treat in such a way an honorable woman who waited on everyone for a
trifle; she who was so industrious, so useful, to be so treated. It is really wrong!” (qtd. in López-
Rey 194).
147