Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas” Wins 6.5-Minute Cannes Ovation as Director Returns to Spanish
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · May 19
Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas” Wins 6.5-Minute Cannes Ovation as Director Returns to Spanish
11 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · May 19
A 6.5-minute standing ovation greeted Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas” at its Cannes competition premiere, with the 76-year-old director telling the crowd he had “no words.”
The response was warm but far shorter than the 17-minute ovation for his 2024 Venice winner “The Room Next Door,” his first English-language film.
“Bitter Christmas” marks Almodóvar’s return to Spanish and centers on artists who have lost their way, extending the autofictional thread noted when the film premiered earlier Tuesday.
Cannes audiences also applauded during the film itself, after a full Chavela Vargas performance of “La Llorona,” while industry jokes about cult cinema and Netflix drew some of the biggest laughs.
The gala drew one of the festival’s starriest crowds—including Juliette Binoche, Ken Loach and Darren Aronofsky—underscoring Almodóvar’s enduring stature at Cannes.
Is Almodóvar's film a confession on artistic ethics or a masterful justification for using real lives in his art?
Does 'Bitter Christmas' offer a universal blueprint for artists to overcome creative paralysis by confronting their past?