Bitter Christmas

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1:05

Bitter Christmas

R

In Theaters Nov 13

1h 51m

Drama

Comedy

Holiday

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

72 Reviews

Popcornmeter

0 Verified Ratings

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.

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In Theaters Nov 13

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Critics Consensus

A visually dazzling and effortlessly fluid late-period Almodóvar entry, Bitter Christmas charms with its well-crafted characters, comic rhythms, and nested storytelling.

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Pedro Almodóvar

Director

Bárbara Lennie

Elsa

Leonardo Sbaraglia

Raúl Rossetti

Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

Mónica

Victoria Luengo

Patricia

Patrick Criado

Bonifacio

Clint Worthington

RogerEbert.com

6 days ago

2.5/4

But by leaning so hard into self-critique, Almodóvar sometimes forgets the element that makes his best films so invigorating to watch: Passion.

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Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack)

Sep 16, 2026

4/4

A fair amount of folks are dismissing this as Minor Pedro, and for much of its running it seems to be, entertainingly so. But I see a master at dusk, spinning the expanding, empathetic tales he knows will be his last.

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Sep 13, 2026

2/4

The film is less self-examination than self-pity, and it arguably feels like outright theft from the lives of people close to Pedro Almodóvar.

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Olga Artemyeva

ScreenAnarchy

8 hrs ago

A strange act of self-deprecating proclamation of creative stagnation. Instead of any kind of meditation on the topic, though, it mostly comes off as a confirmation of said artistic crisis.

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Doug Jamieson

The Jam Report

2 days ago

3/5

Almodóvar may still possess an extraordinary ability to transform life into art, but here, the art occasionally feels more important to him than the life.

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Christian Craig

In Review Online

4 days ago

Almodóvar continues a filmic journey inward. Bitter Christmas is a Matryoshkian autofiction intent on taking no prisoners (not least Almodóvar himself) in the pursuit of truth in film.

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Omri S

@Omri.sTenenbaum Aug 25, 2026

It’s not a good film, but it’s a brave film

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Dani G

@RT81139271 Aug 1, 2026

Mature... Reflexive... In the same line as Almodovar's recent work

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I S

@gidkYs-xyxsyc-tycbi8 Jul 11, 2026

I give it half a star so thaht I can write this review but would gladly give it none. That it has very good actors is no doubt. All have made excellent movies in the past, but the problem is clearly not the acting tbut the script, the story or should I say the non-story. It is just simply one of the worst movies I have seen in a very long time. The trama moves aimlessly through time... which becomes unbearable as I waited desperately to see the word FIN...the end just to say I had been able to conquer the boredom and disbelief that this movie actually made it to the theaters. Someone close to Almodovar should be honest with him with the movie or the idea behind the movie just doesn't work. There is no need to pretend this is just a colorful, nicely photographed, terrible movie.

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Doug R

@DouggyRand Jun 13, 2026

Almodavar is a generational filmmaker but this one will be lost to time.

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Alejandro E

@Alex970 Jun 5, 2026

El mayor temor de todo cineasta, la página en blanco, en una trama que sabe combinar lo real y lo fantástico de manera que sea fácil para el espectador seguir la pista sin abrumarlo a base de sub tramas.

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Wellington A

@RT34692909 Jun 3, 2026

Adorei como ele desenvolve o filme e engana você até um certo ponto... a partir do momento que você entende de fato o que está acontecendo, tudo fica fantástico. Atenção às cores das camisas dos personagens por favor.

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Bitter Christmas: Teaser Trailer

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Synopsis

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Producer: Agustín Almodóvar
Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Movistar Plus+, El Deseo, Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA), Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO)
Rating: R (Some Sexual Material|Language)
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Holiday
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 13, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 1h 51m

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