Noblestone
A cultured woman living in an isolated home hires a housemaid to live with her and tend to the house. Their days begin with politeness and casual conversation, but as time passes, their differences begin to drive them to conflict.
Excerpt
Artist is a fresh faced, put together young woman with voluminous blond hair and piercing blue eyes. Conversely, Karen has a haggard aura that’s accentuated by old lady makeup lines, an ogre-like attitude and way too much energy for her age.
Noblestone (2026) is the second indie feature by British-Spanish director Albert Goya. The film was made with zero budget and took two years to complete. It’s a two-hander deftly handled by Goya’s sister, Lucia Goya-Betts. It’s a surreal and visceral story that is part Fight Club (1999), part The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and part What About Buck? (1991). If that sounds like a heady combination, rest assured that it is. But somehow this elevated piece of “crack treated seriously” works.
Noblestone is director Albert Goya’s second feature following The Lady Governess (2023). The film was produced under Goya’s stage name “Tito Wiley”. Goya created The Lady Governess at 16 and completed Noblestone at 19. The young artist wrote, directed, edited and composed the film. It’s a valiant effort that shows a lot of promise for his unique style of storytelling. Noblestone follows the path of The Lady Governess in fundamental ways. We have our unnamed main character – a self-absorbed artist in Noblestone – and Karen (Lucia Goya-Betts). Karen is a force of nature who is both entirely herself and completely inscrutable.
In The Lady Governess, our main character is a lonely widow who hires Karen to keep house and keep her company. Noblestone serves as kind of a spiritual sequel to Goya’s first work and this is an important motif to keep in mind while watching. Both of our lead women have no name, but are defined and stricken by loneliness.
Continue reading “Noblestone” is an Oddly Charming Cautionary Tale