--- title: "Julieta" year: 2016 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/julieta" fi1m_score: 80 critics_score: 71 critics_reviews: 22 published: "2026-09-17T08:29:25.240925+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T08:29:25.355267+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Julieta (2016) Directed by Pedro Almodóvar · 1h 38m · MPA R · Drama, Romance **Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 71 from 22 reviews *In a sentence:* Two actresses, one woman, and more guilt than either should have to carry > Pedro Almodóvar’s *Julieta* is a moving, carefully controlled drama of maternal grief, carried by Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte. Its reluctance to explain people sometimes frustrates, but the performances give us reason to stay. ## Synopsis Julieta Arcos (Emma Suárez) looks back over her life, trying to make sense of the grief and guilt surrounding her relationship with her daughter. Memories introduce her younger self (Adriana Ugarte) and Xoan Feijóo (Daniel Grao). Julieta is both a mother, to Antía Feijoo (Priscilla Delgado), and a daughter, to Sara (Susi Sánchez), with each generation caught up in the lives of the others. Her account circles around loss and abandonment, and around the question of how much responsibility she can bear for another person’s choices. ## Review *Julieta* is a moving melodrama whose restraint mostly earns our patience. Pedro Almodóvar is interested in how a woman lives with guilt when remembering the past brings little relief, and he gives that question room to trouble us. The colours are bright, but the story offers few distractions from her unhappiness. This is concentrated filmmaking, and although its guarded characters occasionally make the drama feel remote, the two actresses sharing the central role keep us involved. Emma Suárez plays Julieta Arcos, with Adriana Ugarte as her younger self, and the casting makes the passage of time felt without demanding a running explanation. Each actress suggests someone who has difficulty measuring her own share of responsibility. We were moved by Emma Suárez’s stillness: she makes speaking about the past look like an effort Julieta can barely afford. Adriana Ugarte keeps the younger woman from seeming merely an illustration of what went wrong. The differences between the performances are allowed to remain. Jean-Claude Larrieu’s cinematography makes particularly forceful use of red, a colour that keeps drawing attention even when the acting is subdued. It gives the images an energy the characters cannot always summon. Antxón Gómez’s production design is equally assertive, making the surroundings worth studying without quite letting them take over. There are moments when the finish seems too immaculate for the distress being described, but the brightness also prevents grief from becoming a succession of dutifully grey images. José Salcedo’s editing has the more difficult job of keeping the flashbacks intelligible while allowing recollection to feel incomplete. For the most part, the shifts in time sharpen our interest in Julieta without making the chronology difficult to follow. Alberto Iglesias’s score introduces an unease closer to a thriller, encouraging us to expect trouble even when little is happening. It works because the music supplies tension without requiring the performances to grow louder, although it can raise expectations of an explanation the screenplay is reluctant to provide. That reluctance is the chief weakness in Pedro Almodóvar’s screenplay. We can accept that people hurt one another for reasons they struggle to explain, but at times the film makes their behaviour so difficult to read that our sympathy has little to work with. Julieta’s guilt receives careful attention; the motives of those around her receive less. The central performance sometimes has to persuade us of things a conversation might have helped us understand. Melodrama usually gives its characters an opportunity to say the thing they have been suppressing. This one spends longer considering why they cannot speak, a decision that suits the subject even when it slows the film. The concentration on family, memory and abandonment leaves little space for comic relief. We miss that release occasionally, though a livelier treatment would also risk making Julieta’s pain easier to dismiss. At 98 minutes, the film does not need to hurry, and its patience is often justified by the attention paid to its leading women. Both performances reward the time spent watching them, even when the writing gives us less help than we need. The film asks for concentration without making a great ceremony of its seriousness. See it when there is time afterwards for a conversation that may not begin straight away. *Fi1m score 80, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics welcome Julieta as a moving, unusually restrained Almodóvar melodrama, with praise centred on its treatment of grief, guilt and abandonment. The performances of Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as Julieta draw particular admiration, alongside the vivid colour, expressive production design and score. Supporters find that the gradual unfolding of memories gives the drama an emotional force that builds quietly, while the adaptation of Alice Munro’s stories brings a concentrated attention to loneliness and family estrangement. The disagreement concerns how much feeling that restraint allows through. Several otherwise favourable reviews find the film uneven or short on momentum; others miss the director’s humour and energy. The spread is wide despite the positive majority. The Hollywood Reporter finds the storytelling fragmentary and the characters’ motives unconvincing, while Slant argues that the emphasis on objects and symbols keeps Julieta from becoming a fully realised person. ### Reviews we read (22) - **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (5/5): Almodóvar’s tender melodrama is his best in a decade, a sumptuous and heartbreaking study of the viral nature of guilt, the mystery of memory and the often unendurable power of love. The critic singles out the superb score and the dual performances of Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as Julieta. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/28/julieta-review-pedro-almodovar-five-star-kermode) - **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (90/100, inferred): The critic hails it as a spectacular return to form and astonishingly rich and bold in its staging, physicality, colour and direct tragedy, an extremely moving blend of Almodóvar’s female-centric vision with Alice Munro’s themes of loss. It notes the austere, concentrated tragic story with few diversions yet remains intensely rewarding. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/julieta-film-review-a3330226.html) - **Film Comment**, Eugene Hernandez (85/100, inferred): A profound and moving study of family, guilt, and growing old that ranks among Almodóvar’s best recent films. The dispatch highlights the director’s focus on loneliness, the passage of time, and a dark turn in his work adapted from Alice Munro stories. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/cannes-dispatch-3-julieta-aquarius/) - **Empire**, Anna Smith (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it a slick, stylish melodrama with an involving story and cracking cast, closer in spirit to All About My Mother than Almodóvar’s more frenetic earlier works. It highlights the strong characters, simple storytelling, visual brightness, bursts of humour, and Adriana Ugarte as a real find in the lead. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/julieta-review/) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (3/4/5): Almodóvar returns to his very best with a beautiful, quietly devastating portrait of a broken woman, marking a welcome return to neo-melodrama peaks after less successful recent films. The critic singles out the film's intimate, muted style and intricate form, including symbolic visuals and score, for delivering cumulative emotional power that only fully registers at the end. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/julieta) - **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (4/5): Almodóvar returns to female-focused filmmaking with a sombre, ravishing study of grief, guilt and burden that is more buttoned-up than his earlier melodramas but ultimately extremely moving. The critic singles out the gradual piecing together of the story through flashbacks and the exquisite craft, including use of blood red and the score, for its cumulative power. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/julieta) - **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (B): Almodóvar directs the melodrama like a tense thriller in a fascinating experiment that creates useful dissonance and leads to a powerfully open-ended, deeply moving conclusion with an unexpected wallop. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/pedro-almodovar-directs-his-new-melodrama-julieta-lik-1798189851) - **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (70/100, inferred): The critic calls it a radiant and absorbing melodrama of subdued mastery that confirms Almodóvar’s command of form and emotion through seamless time manipulation and expert performances, even if it lacks the grandeur of his greatest works. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-julieta-review-20161216-story.html) - **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): Almodóvar's 20th feature returns the director to the world of women with an anxious, tantalising story of loss and grief adapted from Alice Munro stories, full of hints and omens. The critic singles out the luxurious slide into female neurosis and vibrant colour palette for creating an enigmatic, art-house natural that sustains fans. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/julieta-review/5102234.article) - **Sight and Sound**, Jonathan Romney (70/100, inferred): Almodóvar crafts a sombre, supremely expressive reflection on love, tragedy and transformation by spinning three Alice Munro stories into a dense yet unified narrative of memory, loss and duality. The critic singles out the film's visual and symbolic richness, including the use of two actresses for the lead and expressive production design, for creating a tight, contemplative drama free of the director's usual comedy. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-julieta) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film scrupulous, compassionate and surprising in its handling of loss and abandonment through elegant restraint mixed with melodrama, though it does not always fully communicate the gravity of its feelings. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/movies/julieta-review-pedro-almodovar.html) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (C+): Almodóvar’s most conventional movie, an inoffensively well-acted melodrama with intelligent observations but one that plods without enough zest or a cohesive center. The director plays it too safe. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/cannes-review-julieta-is-pedro-almodovars-most-conventional-movie-290404/) - **Variety**, Peter Debruge (60/100, inferred): The critic sees it as a sincere but relatively tame and less entertaining drama that returns to female-centric storytelling without achieving the director’s strongest or most flamboyant results, though the two-actress casting and visual style are effective. [Read](https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/pedro-almodovar-julieta-film-review-1201742261/) - **Slant Magazine**, Jesse Cataldo (55/100, inferred): The object-oriented approach blocks deeper emotional access, muting the story’s effect with gothic tropes and soap-operatic excess despite visual potency and empathy. Julieta remains an emblematic figure rather than a fully realized character. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/julieta/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Leslie Felperin (30/100, inferred): The film is a flat and fragmentary drama, a tie-me-downer of a pastiche with a meandering script, unresolved mysteries, and quizzically motivated characters. It offers solid craft contributions and a classy cast but lacks freshness or passion. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/julieta-film-review-881691/) - **Eye for Film**, Richard Mowe (80/100, inferred): Almodóvar returns to familiar female territory with a classic melodrama adapted from Alice Munro stories. The director shows new confidence and mastery in exploring the female psyche through the story of a mother and daughter dealing with grief. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/julieta-2016-film-review-by-richard-mowe) - **Collider**, Talia Soghomonian (B): The critic finds the film an engaging yet uneven melodrama that loses pace and clarity after an early switch in its central character's age. The seamless visual transition between younger and older versions of Julieta is singled out for praise amid the story's issues with motivation and momentum. [Read](https://collider.com/julieta-review-almodovar-returns-with-an-engaging-yet-uneven-melodrama-cannes-2016/) - **The Playlist**, Jessica Kiang (B): The film feels like a work of maturity and empathy but is somewhat restrained and contained, with Almodóvar's style not fully matched by the material. It offers knotty pleasures in its verve and sorrowful observations on abandonment and usurpation, anchored by a strong performance. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/cannes-review-pedro-almodovar-mostly-returns-form-julieta-20160517/) - **The Wrap**, Steve Pond (75/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a subdued, decorous version of Almodóvar that still stands out as weirder and more intriguing than most directors' work. It singles out the film's visually rapturous style and its meditation on parenthood and guilt for praise, while noting it lacks the director's usual high energy. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/julieta-cannes-review-a-subdued-pedro-almodovar-is-still-weird-enough/) - **NME**, Nick Levine (4): A gripping return to female-led melodrama with vibrant visuals and emotional revelations adapted from Alice Munro stories. The ending adds to the power of this sad but tremendously entertaining film despite some initial frustration. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-16553-304138) - **Paste**, Tim Grierson (7.7): Almodóvar rebounds with a relatively subdued but absorbing melodrama full of sex, intrigue, and regret, marked by a new gentleness. The director's vivid, hyper-real visual style and love of pulp storytelling are highlighted as strengths even as he tones down his usual outrageousness. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/julieta/julieta) - **Consequence** (30/100, inferred): The film is visually splendid thanks to its sumptuous cinematography and bold colors but dramatically stunted and dreadfully dull. Its plodding mystery plot and derivative elements are singled out for complaint despite the director's signature aesthetic flair. [Read](https://consequence.net/2016/10/nyff-film-review-julieta/) ## Details - **Director:** Pedro Almodóvar - **Director:** Pedro Almodóvar - **Screenplay:** Pedro Almodóvar - **Cinematography:** Jean-Claude Larrieu - **Editor:** José Salcedo - **Music:** Alberto Iglesias - **Production design:** Antxón Gómez - **Costume design:** Sonia Grande - **Producer:** Esther García, Agustín Almodóvar - **Cast:** Emma Suárez as Julieta Arcos; Adriana Ugarte as Julieta Arcos (young); Daniel Grao as Xoan Feijóo; Inma Cuesta as Ava; Darío Grandinetti as Lorenzo; Michelle Jenner as Beatriz; Pilar Castro as Claudia (Beatriz's Mother); Nathalie Poza as Juana - **Runtime:** 1h 38m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 21 December 2016 - **Genres:** Drama, Romance - **Budget:** $1 million - **Box office:** $22 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoi4dbpqZmg ## Where to watch in the US - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $12.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, FI, FR, IT, MX, NL, NO, PA, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - International Submission to the Academy Awards 2017: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated) - European Film Award for Best Actress 2016: European Film Award for Best Actress (nominated) - European Film Award for Best Director 2016: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated) - European Film Award for Best Film 2016: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated) - European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2016: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated) - San Diego International Film Festival 2016: San Diego International Film Festival (won) ## If you liked this - *Autumn Sonata* (1978): A mother and daughter struggle to say what years of resentment have concealed. - *Secrets & Lies* (1996), Fi1m 88: Another family reckoning, with more humour and equally close attention to its women. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/secrets-and-lies.md) - *Still Walking* (2008): Family grief emerges through ordinary conversation, with no need for grand declarations. - *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: Guilt and competing loyalties complicate every judgement about a family coming apart. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md) - *The Quiet Girl* (2022): For another patient drama that lets unspoken feeling accumulate between adults and children. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/julieta