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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
89% Tomatometer 46 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings

Critics Reviews

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Jessica Kiang Sight & Sound Jun 4
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
Mauricio Jarufe Caballero Cinencuentro Jun 12
...while Elsa's plot is intentionally weak and chaotic, Raúl's is too, perhaps due to Almodóvar's fear of being too incisive about his own demons and his blind faith in his most fervent audience. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Rene Sanchez Cine Sin Fronteras Jun 9
3/4
While it may be far from being one of Almodóvar’s finest oeuvres, Amarga Navidad manages to captivate thanks to its intimate and self-referential narrative and its strong performances. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Siddhant Adlakha Video Game Town Jun 5
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
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Audience Reviews

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I S @gidkYs-xyxsyc-tycbi8 4d I give it half a star so thaht I can write this review but would gladly give it none. That it has very good actors is no doubt. All have made excellent movies in the past, but the problem is clearly not the acting tbut the script, the story or should I say the non-story. It is just simply one of the worst movies I have seen in a very long time. The trama moves aimlessly through time... which becomes unbearable as I waited desperately to see the word FIN...the end just to say I had been able to conquer the boredom and disbelief that this movie actually made it to the theaters. Someone close to Almodovar should be honest with him with the movie or the idea behind the movie just doesn't work. There is no need to pretend this is just a colorful, nicely photographed, terrible movie. See more Doug R @DouggyRand Jun 13 Almodavar is a generational filmmaker but this one will be lost to time. See more Alejandro E @Alex970 Jun 5 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 Jun 3 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 Jun 2 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 Jun 2 Worst Almodóvar movie ever! Really boring and without anything like his previous work. He has hit rock bottom See more Read all reviews
Bitter Christmas

My Rating

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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