“With its moving musical interludes, comic patter and outrageously chic production design, BITTER CHRISTMAS is another dazzling, late-period [Almodóvar] jewel.” -David Jenkins, Little White Lies
“Never mind separating the art from the artist, BITTER CHRISTMAS asks if it’s the artist themself that needs to respect boundaries, and at what cost. …Almodóvar has lost none of his ability to surprise and provoke.” -Philip De Semlyen, Time Out
“It’s a damning self-assessment, but also a bracingly honest one that suggests Almodóvar still has plenty to offer, even if it’s by way of self-critique.” -Alison Willmore, Vulture
Opens November 25 | The incomparable Pedro Almodóvar has been rendering the life of the creative mind on screen for five decades, with exquisite attention to every nuance of both aesthetic design and human emotion. With his complexly conceived latest, he uses a metacinematic framework to explore the artist’s tenuous relationship between fiction and reality. The sublimely expressive Bárbara Lennie stars as Elsa, a well-known actress suffering from debilitating migraines whose directorial efforts had failed upon release but then become cult classics. While trying to maintain a relationship with her loyal boyfriend Bonifacio (Patrick Criado), a fireman moonlighting as a stripper, she becomes inspired by the travails of her friends to write a new script. Yet Elsa’s story is itself a story—being written by Raúl (Leonardo Sbaraglia), an Almodóvar-esque filmmaker who is, in turn, taking his cues from the lives of those around him. Mixing the irreverence of early Almodóvar with the somber melodrama of his later work, BITTER CHRISTMAS insightfully details the vampiric nature of artistic creation and how we use fiction to try and right the wrongs of our lives. (NYFF)
Awards & Nominations
2026 Cannes Film Festival - Official Selection
2026 Toronto International Film Festival - Official Selection
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu