Pain and Glory · reception & legacy
2019 · Pedro Almodóvar
How Pain and Glory has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Hailed instantly at Cannes 2019 as a late-career peak — 'his best since Talk to Her' was the refrain — and it's only consolidated since, topping Cahiers du Cinéma's 2019 list and settling in as consensus late-Almodóvar canon.
What's debated
The fan debate is whether this hushed, autumnal Almodóvar is his true masterpiece or a tasteful retreat from the wild, campy melodrama that made him Almodóvar in the first place.
Its footprint
It's the film that recast Antonio Banderas — the eternal movie star — as a great actor, winning him Best Actor at Cannes and his first Oscar nomination for playing a barely-veiled version of his own director.
Where it stands
A fixture of best-of-2019 and best-of-the-2010s lists, and the standard Letterboxd shorthand for 'late-style director looks back at himself' cinema alongside 8½.