Box office Bitter Christmas opened to a
€728,038 (96,852 admissions) debut weekend at the domestic box office in Spain, posting a slightly better performance than Almodóvar's
Parallel Mothers (2021) and
The Room Next Door (2024). By its second weekend, it had grossed around €1.6 million. It added €120,400 in its fourth weekend to a total gross of around €2.3 million.
Critical response First reactions to the film were "largely positive" but "hardly unanimous", with fans lauding the "brutal honesty" while detractors resenting the lack of "emotional impact". Laura Pérez of
Fotogramas rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, highlighting the "brutal honesty of its director" as the best thing about it. of
Cadena SER assessed that the film "features a remarkable and original structure", otherwise considering that Almodóvar has laid his soul bare, almost more so than in
Pain and Glory. Andrea G. Bermejo of
Cinemanía rated the film 4½ out of 5 stars, declaring it "a self-portrait of brutal honesty". Raquel Hernández Luján of
HobbyConsolas gave the film 68 points, highlighting Sánchez Gijón's character, and how, through her, the director "demonstrates a remarkable degree of self-awareness", while also missing in the film "[Almodovár's] raw passion of yesteryear", as well as a bit more of a sense of humour. Luis Martínez of
El Mundo gave the film a 5-star rating, accepting it as a masterpiece insofar masterpiece be defined as a "synonym for risk and freedom, and as another way of describing something new". Manuel J. Lombardo of
Diario de Sevilla gave the film a 2-star rating, lamenting that "everything worked and flowed much better" in
Pain and Glory. J. Picatoste Verdejo of
Mondo Sonoro rated the film 6 out of 10 stars, lamenting that the film lapses into navel-gazing manierism through a narrative game that is both risky and botched. Carlos Reviriego of
El Cultural rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, wondering which other film questions itself as clearly and vehemently as
Bitter Christmas does through Sánchez-Gijón's character in a "memorable" final stretch. Marta Medina del Valle of
El Confidencial rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as a derivative film, delighting as it elaborates in its musical performances, but which occasionally loses its way in self-indulgence when it comes to the self-portrait. Quim Casas of
El Periódico de Catalunya rated the film a 4-star rating, finding a "diaphanous, precise, serene" Almodóvar in the film. Alfonso Rivera of
Cineuropa lamented that a self-absorbed Almódovar "appears to have lost the ability to create work that is interesting, fresh, moving and, crucially, entertaining".
Carlos Boyero of
El País decried the film as "yet another display of design in which the storm of emotions also seems contrived". Jonathan Holland of
ScreenDaily billed the film as "multi-layered, cunningly crafted, melodramatic to a fault and interestingly unseasonal", but featuring "such an inward-looking approach" that the characters' emotions "seem to unspool in a hermetically sealed bubble". == See also ==