Wednesday 29 January 2020
10.00 am, 2.30 pm, 5.00 pm and 7.15 pm
Directed by Pedro Almodovar
Drama Spain Subtitled
113 mins MA15+
Pain and Glory tells of a series of re-encounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered: his childhood in the 60s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in the Madrid of the 80s, the pain of the breakup of that love while it was still alive and intense, writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable, the early discovery of cinema, and the void, the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. Pain and Glory talks about creation, about the difficulty of separating it from one’s own life and about the passions that give it meaning and hope. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it, and in that need he also finds his salvation.
Pedro Almodóvar reunites with Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz in his most personal film yet: a gorgeous reflection on cinema, art, family, love, and sexual awakening. Pain and Glory has been selected as the Spanish entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.
“For all those cinemagoers who have been enthralled by Almodovar’s work over the years this very personal movie, with its superbly pitched central performance by Banderas, will be immensely rewarding.” – David Stratton, The Australian
“There is something thrilling, not dulled, in the very honesty of the film, and in the vigour with which feelings, expressed at any age, can strike us like a slap in the face.” – Anthony Lane, New Yorker.
“It all adds up to a richly satisfying work from a film-maker whose love of cinema, in all its pain and glory, shines through every frame.” – Mark Kermode, Observer (UK)