There is something autobiographical and a lot of extreme fidelity to himself in the plot of the new film by Pedro Almodóvar whose filming has just been announced. Titled Bitter Christmas, the director proposes a story of pain, death, forgetfulness, and once again, of cinema. As stated in the brief text released on Tuesday by the production company El Deseo, the film explores "how life and fiction are intertwined in an indissoluble, sometimes painful way." Once again, as in Law of Desire, Bad Education, Broken Embraces, or Pain and Glory, a film director appears within the movie, and like the mirrors that preside over all his cinema, real stories are duplicated in a fiction where, as one of his classic characters says, "the truth of lies nests."
Bitter Christmas is the 24th feature film in the filmmaker's career and marks his return to Spanish after his three ventures in English, first in the medium-length film The Human Voice, then in the short film Strange Way of Life, and finally in the feature film deserving of the Golden Lion in Venice The Room Next Door. In between, he would shoot, in Spanish, Parallel Mothers.
The complete synopsis of the film reads: "Elsa is an advertising director whose mother dies during a long December holiday. She finds refuge in work, although it is more of a way to escape. She works non-stop and, without realizing it, does not allow herself the necessary time to grieve her mother's absence. Until a panic crisis forces her to stop and take a break. Her partner, Bonifacio, is her lifeline in those moments of crisis. Elsa decides to travel to the island of Lanzarote accompanied by her friend Patricia, who also needs to get away from Madrid, while Bonifacio stays in the city. The story of these three characters, and a few more, is narrated parallel to that of the screenwriter and film director Raúl Durán, intertwining fiction and reality."
Without assigning the characters to the actors, the cast includes Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Victoria Luengo, Patrick Criado, Milena Smit, and Quim Gutiérrez. Except for Patrick Criado and Quim Gutiérrez, the others already know what it's like to film with Almodóvar. The filming will take place between Madrid and Lanzarote, and the movie will hit theaters in 2026.