Review: Almodóvar's 'Bitter Christmas' Turns Two Filmmakers' Lives Into One Melodrama

Pedro Almodóvar's "Bitter Christmas" runs 1 hour 51 minutes, carries an R rating, and splits itself between two filmmakers whose lives bleed into each other on screen. The film is now in theaters, in Spanish and English with subtitles.

Almodóvar has never been shy about mining his own biography. His stories center on writers and directors, and in "Pain and Glory" — the capstone to a thematic trilogy that also includes "Law of Desire" and "Bad Education" — the silver-bearded protagonist lives in a home modeled on the director's own.

Still, calling Almodóvar an autofiction writer misses the mark. His favored mode is melodrama. His lush tales occupy an elevated plane, as far from realism as flamenco is from a morning commute. His worlds overflow with vivid color, poetic meaning and theatrical flair.

What are the film's two story lines?

In the first, Elsa (Bárbara Lennie) is a commercial director who dates a doting hunk, Bonifacio (Patrick Criado), and suffers anxiety-driven migraines. In the parallel plot, Raúl (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is an acclaimed filmmaker writing Elsa's story in real time. Her scenes tumble out as he types them into his screenplay, subject to the whims of his inspiration.

Raúl starts with his own experiences. Elsa's angst comes from his history. Bonifacio — a firefighter, stripper and consummate sweetie — is based on Raúl's boyfriend, Santi (Quim Gutiérrez).

Then the drama runs short. Raúl turns to the affairs of his longtime assistant, Mónica (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). A loyal employee for decades, Mónica reveals she is leaving the job to help a friend in distress. Raúl poaches that true story of woe for Elsa.

Where does the structure hold — and where does it break?

For a while, this alchemy coheres, producing detours and distortions that pulse with the passion and finesse of classic Almodóvar. Each new turn rewards attention. In one flashback, Elsa meets Bonifacio at work: she ogles him during a striptease, and his beauty and charisma mesmerize her. In a musical interlude, Elsa visits her best friend, Patricia (Victoria Luengo); dressed in red and green in a Christmas-flecked room, the pair listen to Chavela Vargas.

The singing sparks an epiphany for Patricia. The two friends decamp to a volcanic island for an impromptu vacation. There Raúl falters. He borrows more from Mónica, but his writer's block leaves the women in an emotional lurch. His script is unfinished and not quite gelling — which means the film the audience is watching is not either.

What does this cost the characters — and the viewer?

"Bitter Christmas" is about the process of writing from life, its pleasure and its price. That price proves high for Raúl, and also for Almodóvar. Because the film belongs to Raúl and not Elsa, the viewer leaves feeling shortchanged.

"You're more honest in your scripts than in your life," Mónica spits at her former boss after learning he appropriated her plight for his work. She may be right. But as Elsa's story falters and fades away, the audience is left grasping for more.

The film is rated R for a visit to the strip club. Whether Almodóvar returns to Elsa's unfinished thread — or leaves it as the film's final statement on art's casualties — remains the question his next project will have to answer.