Pedro Almodovar received a warm six-and-a-half minute standing ovation at the international premiere of “Bitter Christmas.” Although the applause for his 17-minute “The Room Next Door” fell short of the applause in Venice, the Cannes crowd appreciated it. Almodovar was in attendance, along with stars Barbara Rennie, Leonardo Sbarraria, and the ensemble cast.
Director Almodovar told the audience, “I don’t know what to say. It’s so moving that I can’t find the words. I’ve shown here before and I always felt that the audience was so warm when I was here. Thank you so much. Just walking through that door and sitting here, this is truly a dream for me. And I’m going to miss it so much when I can’t come anymore.”
This drew renewed applause, and the director was cheered all the way out of the theater.
The film weaves together two parallel stories spanning two eras. In 2026, Raul, a film director played by Sbararia, is suffering from writer’s block as he begins to depict the lives of those closest to him, including his longtime assistant Monica, played by Aitana Sánchez-Gijon. The script he produced will be the second installment of the film. Set in 2004, the story follows Elsa, played by Lenny, an advertising director and film scriptwriter, who travels to Lanzarote with her friend Patricia after the death of Elsa’s mother.
As the film progresses, the boundaries between Raoul’s fiction and reality begin to dissolve. The cast also includes Victoria Luengo (who co-starred with Javier Bardem in Rodrigo Sologoen’s Beloved and has already appeared in Cannes), Patrick Criado, Milena Smit, Quim Gutiérrez and Rossy de Palma.
It is Almodóvar’s eighth film to be screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, a record that cements his status as one of the festival’s most enduring figures. Previous films in competition include All About My Mother, which won Best Director in 1999, Volver, which won Best Original Screenplay in 2006, and Best Actress with a Female Ensemble Cast. In 2019, Antonio Banderas won Best Actor for Pain and Glory, but the Palme d’Or has so far eluded Almodovar. The film had already been released in Spain to positive reviews in March before its international premiere on the Croisette.
“Bitter Christmas” was produced by Agustín Almodovar for El Deseo. The film will be distributed in North America by Sony Pictures Classics, in Spain and Mexico by Warner Bros., and in the UK and Ireland by Curzon.
