Pedro Almodóvar’s 24th film, Bitter Christmas (originally titled Amarga Navidad in Spanish), premiered in Spain on Friday, March 20, 2026, with a theatrical release by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film stars Bárbara Lennie and Leonardo Sbaraglia, alongside Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Victoria Luengo, Patrick Criado, Milena Smit, and Quim Gutiérrez.
The film unfolds across two timelines. One storyline begins during a long weekend in December 2004 in Madrid, following Elsa, portrayed by Bárbara Lennie. The other, set in the summer of 2026, centers on Raúl, played by Leonardo Sbaraglia, a writer immersed in his work. Raúl is crafting the story of Elsa, her relationship with Bonifacio, a stripper and fireman played by Patrick Criado, and her friendship with Patricia, played by Victoria Luengo, as well as the tragedy surrounding Natalia, played by Milena Smit. Almodóvar described the narrative as being deeply personal, reflecting a period in his own life marked by severe migraines and panic attacks.
“I started writing the 2004 story, which as well has to do with me, because it was a time when I had a lot of migraines, I knew what they were like, but I didn’t know that if they cross with a panic attack, it’s hell,” Almodóvar explained. “Remembering that, once I start with Bárbara Lennie’s role, I immediately go to the person who is writing it, which is me, after all, but who in the film is Leo’s character. So We find like three levels of reality, which is mine, the one I delegate to Leo to write about it, and that he himself also manipulates and also rewrites, and in which he turns Bárbara into an alter ego of him. We are all three aligned.”
Bitter Christmas, like Almodóvar’s 2019 film Dolor y Gloria, explores themes of creation and the interplay between inspiration and reality. “I talk about creation and the relationship that creation, inspiration, has with reality. And how, they are together in an inseparable way; and that this union sometimes has consequences, which sometimes also have to do with pain,” Almodóvar stated.
Leonardo Sbaraglia portrays a version of Almodóvar within the film, while Bárbara Lennie embodies a version of Sbaraglia. The actors did not share scenes during filming, but engaged in discussions to understand their respective roles within the layered narrative structure. Sbaraglia previously appeared in Almodóvar’s Dolor y Gloria, and Lennie in La piel que habito (2011). Victoria Luengo also has a prior connection to Almodóvar’s work, having appeared in La habitación de al lado (2024). Aitana Sánchez-Gijón and Milena Smit previously worked with the director on Madres Paralelas (2021). Patrick Criado and Quim Gutiérrez are latest additions to Almodóvar’s cinematic universe, though Gutiérrez had previously collaborated with El Deseo, the production company founded by Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar, on the series Mentiras pasajeras.
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