{"id":589485,"date":"2026-04-06T16:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/589485\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:53:09","slug":"pedro-almodovars-bitter-christmas-draws-upbeat-reviews-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/589485\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Bitter Christmas’ Draws Upbeat Reviews in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFirst reactions to Pedro Almodovar\u2019s \u201cBitter Christmas<\/a>\u201d (\u201cAmarga Navidad\u201d) \u2013 one of the highest-profile contenders predicted to be selected the Cannes Film Festival<\/a> on April 9 \u2013 are already in, at least from his native Spain where Almodovar\u2019s latest opened March 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMost reactions, especially from Spain\u2019s biggest newspapers and specialist film publications, are good to great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018Bitter Christmas\u2019 is a \u201cmasterpiece,\u201d announced El Mundo, one of Spain\u2019s most influential newspapers. Almod\u00f3var delivers his \u201cdeepest, rawest and most complex film and even the most imperfect one in a cruel study of the motives behind creation,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

\n\tEl Peri\u00f3dico de Catalunya called \u201cBitter Christmas\u201d as a \u201cprecise, serene melodrama.\u201c It could be seen, it went on, as a \u201cprolongation in a different register\u201dof Almod\u00f3var\u2019s \u201cPain and Glory,\u201d which won Antonio Banderas Cannes\u2019 actor award in 2019, playing a figure not so distant in many ways to Almodovar himself. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAlmod\u00f3var\u2019s return to Spanish-language filmmaking is \u201cautofiction, exploring the limits of the relationship between life and fiction\u201d with a \u201cfilm director once more as the lead, the absence of the mother figure, prolonged mourning, more reflections on the creative process, physical pain and medicaments and the songs of Chavela Vargas,\u201d El Peri\u00f3dico de Catalunya noted. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOther reviews to date, however, have begged to differ in their enthusiasm. \u201cPedro Almod\u00f3var<\/a> muses on the creative process in a personal, messy drama,\u201d said Screen Daily. \u201cWe\u2019d have been more interested in an Almod\u00f3var who\u2019s less wrapped up in himself and more caring about his stories not being sketchy and distant,\u201d reproached El Diario Vasco.<\/p>\n

\n\tProduced by Pedro and Agust\u00edn Almodovar\u2019s El Deseo, opening in cinema theaters in Spain before possibly being chosen for Cannes \u2013 a practice for Almod\u00f3var which dates back decades and is allowed for by Cannes\u00a1 ruling on premieres \u2013 \u201cBitter Christmas\u201d will hit over \u20ac2 million ($2.3 million) in box office in Spain over the April 3-5 weekend, El Blog del Cine Espa\u00f1ol predicted April 4. That puts it on track to end up with $2.9 million-$3.1 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat figure would beat Almodovar\u2019s English-language Venice Golden Lion winner \u201cThe Room Next Door\u201d ($2.8 million) with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, and end up on a broad par\u00a0 with 2021\u2019s \u201cParallel Mothers,\u201d ($3.1 million) starring Penelope Cruz. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShot with Almodovar\u2019s hallmark blending natural tones, single color blocks, perfectly composed frames and often gorgeous apartments and setting to die for \u2013 such as a chalet in the Canary Islands\u2019 Lanzarote \u2013 the challenge of \u201cBitter Christmas\u201d is also what splits critics most: a film-within-a film-structure and focus on Almodovar\u2019s own creative process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis features Elsa, a commercials\u2019 director (Barbar\u00e1 Lennie) writing a film script in 2004 inspired by the suffering of friends. Elsa\u2019s story is quickly revealed as fiction, written by Ra\u00fal, a film director in 2026 (Argentina\u2019s Leonardo Sbaraglia<\/a>, an Almodovar look-alike in his flamboyant bouffant white hair).<\/p>\n

\n\tRarely will a top-notch auteur voice in a film his own doubts, fears and contradictions including about the film spectators are seeing, such as when Ra\u00fal confesses his fear, for example, that the film he\u2019s writing \u2013 making up much of \u201cBitter Christmas\u201d \u2013 will been seen as a lesser work, destroying in one stroke his worldwide prestige. But Almod\u00f3var does here, and has at least one character subjecting Raul\u2019s screenplay, and so Elsa\u2019s story, to serious criticism of its faulty structure.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wanted to shake a little the totemic figure of a director, showing his weaknesses and faults though not abuse, question whether he has the right to do everything he does,\u201d the director said at a pre-opening press conference in Spain, calling \u201cBitter Christmas\u201d \u201cthe film where I\u2019ve been cruelest with myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor many of its fans, \u201cBitter Christmas\u201d displays a \u201cbrutal honesty\u201d and a \u201cremarkable and original structure,\u201d as top Spanish radio network Cadena Ser argued. For detractors, the film\u2019s emotions lacks emotional impact.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne scene has registered with most everyone, however. In Elsa\u2019s tale, she meets Spanish singer-songwriter Amaia, whose character delivers a rendition of Mercedes Sosa\u2019s 2009 \u201cSong of Simple Things.\u201d Striking a gathering sense of melancholy in Almod\u00f3var\u2019s work, \u201cLove is simple and simple things are devoured by time,\u201d Amaia sings, in a scene written by Ra\u00fal, Almod\u00f3var\u2019s alter ego, who admits to now dedicating his life to his film craft. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn this scene and the song is the heart of the film for me,\u201d Almod\u00f3var has said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t(L-R) Aitana S\u00e1nchez-Gij\u00f3n, Leonardo Sbaraglia in \u2018Bitter Christmas\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First reactions to Pedro Almodovar\u2019s \u201cBitter Christmas\u201d (\u201cAmarga Navidad\u201d) \u2013 one of the highest-profile contenders predicted to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,198496,287999,45527,134,288000,344,198497],"class_list":{"0":"post-589485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bitter-christmas","11":"tag-bu00e1rbara-lennie","12":"tag-cannes-film-festival","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-leonardo-sbaraglia","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-pedro-almodu00f3var"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}