BITTER CHRISTMAS (2026): Master Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s Next Movie Scores Some Good Reviews as Expected

Almodóvar is Back with More Human Drama

Bitter Christmas is the latest movie from master craftsman, Pedro Almodóvar, and the new picture has scored some very positive reviews thus far.

While it is expected to potentially play at Cannes, Bitter Christmas opened March 20th to overwhelmingly decent feedback. Almodóvar is back in his somber mode with another tale of emotional torment, heartbreak and passion this time out. Warner Bros. has already released the new movie in Spain, but it also has the potential to screen at Cannes, as previously stated, and, quite possibly, the prestigious New York Film Festival as well.

Almodóvar has returned to making Spanish pictures again after a brief foray into making an English-language film, The Room Next Door, which was (unfairly) overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for major nominations for the year it was released -2024.

A film director will be one of the main characters in Bitter Christmas and that’s not too surprising, given Almodóvar’s history of films with various types of artists at the center of them.  The new picture showcases a film-within-a-film structure that is evident of Almodóvar’s unique way of presenting his visions to audiences.

Elsa is a 2004 commercial director (played by Barbará Lennie) in Bitter Christmas who is juxtaposed against a 2026 filmmaker (Leonardo Sbaraglia) in modern times. With its “brutally honest” movie-within-a-movie look at the lives of contrasting characters, our legendary Almodóvar reveals surprising layers to his characters which are multi-faceted in their excesses.

Bitter Christmas could be a bigger hit in the States than The Room Next Door. It all depends on which studio handles it domestically and how they manage its release. Warner Bros. is doing just fine promoting the movie in Spain where it is playing to full crowds theatrically. People go to Almodóvar films for thought-provoking plot elements which are certainly on hand again this time out, according to some of the journalists who have seen the picture already.

There was a time where an Almodóvar film was expected to earn Oscar nods. Penélope Cruz secured an Oscar nomination for her work in 2021’s excellent Parallel Mothers, for example. With The Room Next Door, Sony campaigned the two of its star actresses in the Best Actress category, a strategy which left both Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore sitting out of the Academy Awards altogether.

With Bitter Christmas, the fight probably won’t be to secure an unlikely acting nomination from the Oscars for the mostly “unheard of” stars, but rather for the movie to get into the Best International Film category. If Bitter Christmas makes it to Cannes, it will bode well for Bitter Christmas‘ future success prospects. I’m hoping to see it at the New York Film Festival where so many of our great director’s films have played previously.

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