NZIFF - Bitter Christmas
<div>Pedro Almodóvar’s films have always been self-reflexive, folding in layers of memory, and personal history alongside his propensity for primary-coloured melodrama. In Bitter Christmas, Raúl (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is a filmmaker in the midst of an intense creative crisis, who finds a spark of inspiration in the pain of his longtime assistant Mónica (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), whose best friend recently lost their child. In parallel, we follow the story Raúl writes, itself about a creatively adrift filmmaker (a luminous Bárbara Lennie), who draws inspiration from the trauma of the people around her, including a friend who herself has lost a child. Both directors find their loved ones are less than amenable to having their lives mined for drama, as the line between autofiction and biography blur.</div><div><br></div><div>Bitter Christmas finds Almodóvar reflecting on a storied career, picking through the personal debris that being an artist engenders. Throughout, Almodóvar’s propensity for melodrama is present, but muted — it is a work in the midst of a fascinating conversation with itself. – Tom Augustine</div>TragicomedyPT1H51MM2026-08-29Bárbara Lennie
Leonardo Sbaraglia
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
Victoria Luengo
Patrick Criado
Pedro Almodóvar
Agustín Almodóvar
NZIFF - Bitter Christmas"NZIFF - Bitter Christmas"Showtimes
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