Bitter Christmas

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Bitter Christmas

R

1h 51m

Drama

Comedy

Holiday

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

55 Reviews

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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.

Pedro Almodóvar

Director

Bárbara Lennie

Elsa

Leonardo Sbaraglia

Raúl Rossetti

Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

Mónica

Victoria Luengo

Patricia

Patrick Criado

Bonifacio

Danny Leigh

Financial Times

5h

3/5

Visually, the movie gleams with lipstick reds and midnight blues. Watching Almodóvar is never a chore. Still, the first stretch of the film gets as close as he has ever come.

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David Jenkins

Little White Lies

1d

5/5

With its moving musical interludes, comic patter and outrageously chic production design, Bitter Christmas is another dazzling, late-period jewel.

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Jessica Kiang

Sight & Sound

Jun 4

Still, if Bitter Christmas is just the harrumph before the actual event, it’s a highly diverting one: Nobody clears his throat like Pedro Almodóvar.

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Adam Sweeting

The Arts Desk

6h

4/5

Almodóvar’s brand of cynical sentimentality and fatalistic hope never gives up the ghost, though the pleasures are more intellectual than emotional this time.

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Alistair Harkness

Scotsman

2d

3/5

It’s all very reminiscent of Deconstructing Harry... It also suffers when compared to...Adaptation. And yet for Almodóvar fans, it is actually a pleasant enough diversion.

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Philip Concannon

The Skinny

2d

4/5

As we watch Bitter Christmas, we may be bewildered by how flimsy and arbitrary it feels. Almodóvar appears to be going through the motions, but he’s playing a cannier game here.

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Omri S

@Omri.sTenenbaum 3d

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

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Dani G

@RT81139271 Aug 1

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

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I S

@gidkYs-xyxsyc-tycbi8 Jul 11

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

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

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Alejandro E

@Alex970 Jun 5

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

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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