Pedro Almodóvar called *A Bitter Christmas* the riskiest film of his career

Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar said that his new film, *A Bitter Christmas*, was the riskiest project of his entire career. The film tells the story of director Elsa, played by Barbara Lennie, and cinematographer Raúl, played by Leonardo Sbaraglia. The plot is structured around several narrative levels: Almodóvar has made a film about a director who is making a film about a female director.

In an interview with The Guardian, the director explained that this structure demands the viewers’ full attention. According to him, he deliberately took a number of creative risks, though he acknowledged that not all of them would pay off. The film is based on the short story of the same name, written in 2003 and published 20 years later in Almodóvar’s collection *The Last Dream*.

The director also explored the theme of autofiction in the film—the author’s use of material from their own life and the lives of others. In the film, Raúl uses the life of his assistant, Mónica, in his screenplay, after which she accuses him of a kind of “vampirism.” Almodóvar called the character his alter ego and said that he himself could have delivered about 80% of Raúl’s lines.

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Almodóvar noted that pain, not happiness, inspires his creativity, and that writers, by their very nature, can be selfish and dangerous to those close to them. That is precisely why, he said, he portrayed Raúl almost as a villain. The director added that, while using people from his own life as a source of inspiration, he tried to alter details so they would remain unrecognizable.

Separately, Almodóvar reiterated his criticism of streaming platforms, particularly Netflix. He believes that streaming services are on the verge of defeating traditional theatrical distribution, and that along with theatrical releases, movie posters, the excitement of premieres, and the special atmosphere of the big screen are disappearing. In 2017, while chairing the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, the director had already spoken out against awarding Netflix films that were not scheduled to be shown in French theaters.

The 76-year-old director stated that he has no plans to stop making films. His first novel, *The Man Who Wrote Only on Airplanes*, is also set to be released in Spain this October.