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Bitter Christmas

Play trailer 1:05 Poster for Bitter Christmas R 2026 1h 51m Drama Comedy Holiday Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
91% Tomatometer 44 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings

Critics Reviews

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Jessica Kiang Sight & Sound 1d
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. Go to Full Review
Justin Chang The New Yorker May 28
Almodóvar nests one story inside another, leaps between them with breathtaking fluidity, and brings them both to a virtuosic, if abrupt, finish. Go to Full Review
Rory Doherty AV Club May 22
C+
Bitter Christmas uncomfortably straddles its twin goals of complexity and amusement, too pithy to take seriously and too flat to be riotously entertained. Go to Full Review
Siddhant Adlakha Video Game Town 9h
Goes to great and verbose lengths to explain (and re-explain) its conflicts. It’s a good film that should be great. Go to Full Review
Hugo Hernández Valdivia Cinexcepción 2d
60/100
True to form, Almodóvar presents an impeccable and eloquent mise-en-scène. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Leandro Ariel Porcelli Cinéfilo Serial 4d
7.5/10
More bitter than christmassy, it evolves from a run of the mill retread into an irregular and convoluted experience that manages to produce some worthy moments of that trademark Almodóvar charm. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alejandro E @Alex970 9h 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. See more Wellington A @RT34692909 2d 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. See more Eye C @ECinc 3d Pues no ha funcionado para mí, me pareció poco interesante y lenta. Aunque debo de reconocer que escribir acerca de un autor escribiendo acerca de un autor escribiendo es muy meta. See more Luis L @RT82297112 3d Worst Almodóvar movie ever! Really boring and without anything like his previous work. He has hit rock bottom See more Juan-Pablo C @RT42617042 May 29 I'm a big fan of most of Almodóvar's films, but this is a flop. He has lost his spark, and has become, as they mention in the semi-autobiographical film, complacent. The thinness of the actresses and handsomeness of the actors feels superficial, worsen by the constant Prada merch placement. The "meta" aspects promise a lot and deliver little to nothing in the end. There are some moments of comic relief and dramatic gravitas, but they mostly all fall flat. Detached from the pulse of Spanish culture, it is an inane drama of the super rich. Sbargalia's performance is sub-par, he is put there solely for his looks. It's nice to see Rossy de Palma and Carmen Machi doing their thing, but they are morsels of the old Almodóvar. A beautifully filmed visual feast, but it feels vapid, disconnected, with a forgettable plot that ignores Spain's current cultural moment and, worse, Almodovar's own cinematic soul over his technical craft. See more Liubov K. @shpingalette May 2 Like a clip, beautiful and senseless See more Read all reviews
Bitter Christmas

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Movie Info

Director
Pedro Almodóvar
Producer
Agustín Almodóvar
Screenwriter
Pedro Almodóvar
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
Runtime
1h 51m