There was nothing bitter about the Cannes reception for him Bitter ChristmasPedro Almodóvar’s latest Spanish melodrama – his 23rd film and eighth to have had at the festival (not including 2023 Strange way of lifehis 30-minute queer western starring Ethan Hawke AND Pedro Pascal).
A standing ovation greeted him as he entered the Grand Lumière Theater for the premiere of his film, which drew everyone from Juliette Binoche for filmmakers like Abel Ferrara, Darren Aronofsky and two-time winner of the Palme d’Or Ken Loach. Even a gay sensation on Instagram Jordan Firstman was there, whose directorial debut, the adorable father-son drama Club kidsit was the toast of Cannes during the previous days and sold for $17 million on A24.
“Merci beaucoup,” a visibly emotional Almodóvar said to the adoring crowd after the show ended. “Of all the audiences that I meet with the screenings of my films, the spectators in this great hall I think are the warmest and most loving that I have ever met. I do not know how to thank you for the generosity that I have felt every time I have been here.”
Then it took an elegiac turn. “I will miss it a lot in the future, when I’m not here and I only have to watch it on television.”
Is the 76-year-old director planning to retire? Or is he just starting to feel his age? “It wasn’t a farewell. On the contrary, I already have ideas for my next film,” he assured reporters at the film’s press conference. “But the day I can’t come anymore because I don’t have a film or – I don’t know what situation might arise – I will certainly miss a lot of things. I have great nostalgia and great love for this festival.”
Despite its name, Bitter Christmas is less of a holiday film and more of a Pirandello-influenced meditation on storytelling, creativity, and the sometimes morally dubious origins of inspiration. It also echoes Almodóvar’s 2019 semi-autobiographical film Pain and Glorywho played Antonio Banderas as Almodóvar’s alter ego reflecting on how his film life has become intertwined with physical ailments such as his chronic back pain.
Bitter Christmas combines two stories: an account of a famous director named Raul (Leonardo Sbarragliawith a salt-and-pepper Almodovarian beard and shaggy locks); and the screenplay he’s in the middle of writing, which follows a troubled cult film director named Elsa (Barbara Lennie) who suffers from migraines.
The process of writing Raul’s screenplay strains his relationship with his lover Santi (Quim Gutierrez) and longtime assistant Mônica (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), since Elsa’s story and the characters who populated it are filled with real-life incidents that Raúl has recycled into plot points. “You vampirize us,” Mónica says at one point, accusing Raúl of exploiting the people around him.
“Bitter Christmas AND Pain and Glory it might seem to be interconnected, like a kind of diptych, because I talk about myself in both films,” said Almodóvar. “In Bitter Christmasthe pain is a moral pain, it is a psychological pain, which is experienced as chronic and I recognize myself in the role of Raul. It’s an unbearable situation, you feel like you’re going through a terrible existential crisis.”
At times, the film feels more like a confessional, and it’s certainly among the most demanding dramas he’s made in the last five decades. “At least I try to make sure I haven’t hurt anyone in the overall process,” he said. “But Raul doesn’t care. It’s in the nature of someone who creates, to be so self-centered. And it’s very dangerous for everyone around him. There’s a moral debate that’s really not clarified, which has to do with the ethical sensibilities of a creator. Pain permeates the entire film. Everyone is experiencing some kind of suffering.”
The characters in Bitter Christmas struggle with panic attacks, infidelity, emotionally neglected partners and even the death of a child. For Raúl—and for Almodóvar—it’s all creative fodder ready to be gleaned, whether from reality or fantasy. And it can be hard to resist that, even if it hurts people in real life. “Creation is very mysterious and it is extremely powerful,” he said. “And when you feel inspired, it’s impossible for me not to follow that path — even if I don’t know where it’s going to take me.”
When a journalist asked the director if he was curious to explore other themes, Almodóvar quickly agreed. “Yes, of course! I’m fed up with myself,” he admitted. “I don’t want to turn to myself to continue writing. I really would like to change direction. This film is quite defined, it’s probably the last one for myself. I think the next film will be different. It will have a lot more dark humor.”
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