Bitter Christmas (2026)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
After her mother dies, director of commercials Elsa (Bárbara Lennie) immerses herself in work to cope. When migraine forces her to take a break, she decides to travel to Lanzarote in the 2004 Constitution Day's long weekend with her friend Patricia (Victoria Luengo) while her boyfriend (stripper and fireman Bonifacio - Patrick Criado) stays in Madrid. To resume creative writing, she vampirises the personal miseries of her close friends. In a timeline set in 2025, the plot explores how filmmaker Raúl (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is writing a script which turns out to be the story of Elsa, Raúl's alter ego. Raúl is delving into autofiction to overcome a creativity block, and is influenced by his own life, his boyfriend Santi (Quim Gutiérrez) and his assistant Mónica (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). - Actors:
- Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Vicky Luengo, Patrick Criado, Milena Smit, Quim Gutiérrez, Belén Riquelme, Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Rossy de Palma, Carmen Machi, Lola Rodríguez, Álvaro Lafuente, Bibiana Fernández, Omar Ayuso, María Morales, Amaia Romero, Teo Lucadamo, Fernando Iglesias
- Directors:
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Producers:
- Agustín Almodóvar
- Writers:
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Aka:
- Amarga Navidad
- Genres:
- Comedy, Drama
- Countries:
- Spain
More like Bitter Christmas
Reviews (1) of Bitter Christmas
Confessions of a Serial Storyteller - Bitter Christmas review by griggs
Stuck somewhere between an apology and a confession, Almodóvar turns the camera on the storyteller and finds someone he doesn’t entirely trust.
Leonardo Sbaraglia’s Raúl is basically Pedro with the serial numbers filed off: a filmmaker borrowing from the people closest to him, then wondering when inspiration turns into theft. Mónica accusing him of “vampirising” their lives gets right to the nasty bit. How much can you take from someone before calling it art stops being a defence?
Netflix gets a few jabs too, alongside Almodóvar’s anxiety about where cinema is heading. I’m sympathetic, although hearing Pedro Almodóvar have an existential wobble about filmmaking is rather like watching Picasso worry about the stationery cupboard.
The trouble is the film keeps folding back on itself. Its layers of fiction and autobiography are clever, but eventually I could see the gears turning.
Plenty to think about, occasionally sharp, frequently self-absorbed. Even Almodóvar’s therapy sessions could use an edit.