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Screening at Cannes: Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Bitter Christmas’

His Pirandello-inflected meditation on storytelling and ethics feels like a confessional: "When you feel that you've been swept away by inspiration, it is impossible for me not to follow that path—even if I don't know where it's going to lead me."

There was nothing bitter about the reception at Cannes for Bitter Christmas, Pedro Almodóvar’s latest Spanish melodrama—his 23rd feature and the eighth one he’s had at the festival (not including 2023’s Strange Way of Life, his 30-minute queer western starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal).

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A standing ovation greeted him as he entered the Grand Lumière Theater for his film’s premiere, which attracted everyone from Juliette Binoche to filmmakers like Abel Ferrara, Darren Aronofsky and two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach. Even gay Instagram sensation Jordan Firstman was there, whose writing-directing debut, the adorable father-son dramedy Club Kid, was the toast of Cannes over the previous few days and sold for $17 million to A24.

“Merci beaucoup,” said a visibly emotional Almodóvar to the........

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