{"id":248,"date":"2026-05-19T20:39:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T20:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=248"},"modified":"2026-05-19T20:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T20:39:24","slug":"pedro-almodovars-bitter-christmas-receives-warm-response-at-cannes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=248","title":{"rendered":"Pedro Almod\u00f3var\u2019s \u2018Bitter Christmas\u2019 Receives Warm Response at Cannes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\nPedro Almod\u00f3var\u2019s <em>Amagra Navidad (Bitter Christmas)<\/em>, the first film from the Spanish master since he won the Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, received a warm response from its premiere in competition at Cannes. The melodrama marks the 76-year-old director\u2019s return to his native language after making his English-language debut with the Venice-winning <em>The Room Next Door<\/em>, which featured Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton as estranged friends brought back together for an assisted suicide. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=246\">\u2018Double Freedom\u2019 Review: Lisandro Alonso\u2019s Sequel to His Slow Cinema Debut Adds a Major Twist, but Stays True to its Roots<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn contrast to that film\u2019s 17-minute standing ovation, with Almod\u00f3var running up and down the aisles, the six-and-a-half-minute standing ovation from the audience in the Grand Th\u00eaatre Lumi\u00e8re seemed positively staid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe gala premiere itself was one of the starriest audiences of this festival, with Juliette Binoche sitting in the row in front of the cast and crew, ready to give Almod\u00f3var a hug as soon as he walked in. Also walking the carpet to huge applause was 89-year-old, two-time Palme d\u2019Or winner Ken Loach.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRepresenting younger generations of directors were Darren Aronofsky and Jordan Firstman, who may be the biggest star of Cannes, after A24\u2019s $17 million purchase, following a bidding war, of his feature directorial debut, <em>Club Kid<\/em>. Model Helena Christensen turned heads as did <em>Club Kid<\/em> heartthrob Diego Calva. Dita Von Teese and James King also came to pay their respects, as did longtime Almod\u00f3var collaborator Rossy de Palma.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhen handed a microphone during the ovation, Almod\u00f3var seemed visibly touched. \u201cThis is so moving that I have no words. It\u2019s beyond words,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember all of the projections and schemings that I have in this place and I have to say, I\u2019ve never found an audience [as warm] as when I\u2019m here \u2026 This is really a dream for me and I will miss it very much when I will not come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=244\">Jill Kargman Is Still the Upper East Side\u2019s Most Unlikely Ambassador<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tAlmod\u00f3var received several minutes of applause before even sitting down, a tribute to his long history with this festival and the love for him in the film world. <em>Bitter Christmas<\/em> is ultimately about artists who\u2019ve lost their way and are trying to find themselves, which feels like a not-so-subtle exploration of how Almod\u00f3var feels at this late stage of his career. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tIt\u2019s all beautifully shot, with Almod\u00f3var\u2019s signature vibrant color palette and incredible set design. <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>\u2019s David Rooney describes it as \u201cbeautifully acted by a cast of both regulars and newcomers; dripping in visual style; and surging with intense melodrama, enveloped in a sumptuously turbulent score by the director\u2019s indispensable longtime composer Alberto Iglesias.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIndustry jokes got the biggest laughs, such as when Elsa (B\u00e1rbara Lennie) tells a doctor that she\u2019s considered a \u201ccult\u201d filmmaker because not many people had much interest in watch her movies but a few people really liked them. (The doctor had thought it meant she was leading a religious sect.) Later on, during an argument, Ra\u00fal\u2019s closes confidant tells him, \u201cNetflix has been waiting for you your entire life!\u201d \u2014 clearly, in Almod\u00f3var\u2019s mind, the most cutting insult anyone can give a screenwriter. The audience roared with laughter.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe heart of the movie might be the set piece in which Mexican singer Chavela Vargas sings a folk song about La Llorona, or the Weeping Woman, the subject of various ghost stories in which she wanders the banks of rivers hunting for children to replace hers who died. Almod\u00f3var lets the entire song play out, as Elsa and her boyfriend weep. When Vargas concluded, the Cannes audience applauded mid-movie. It felt in some ways symbolic \u2014 a gesture of thanks for one great moment in an Almod\u00f3var movie, in a career that we all hope still has more of those moments to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=242\">YouTube Will Let Creators Use AI to Insert Themselves Into Other People\u2019s Videos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pedro Almodovar&#8217;s &#8216;Bitter Christmas&#8217; premieres to a warm response at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[280,8,2,281],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-bitter-christmas","tag-cannes-2026","tag-international","tag-pedro-almodovar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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