--- title: "Pain and Glory: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/pain-and-glory/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/pain-and-glory" critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 17 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." --- # Pain and Glory (2019): what the critics said Critics' score 83 from 17 reviews: 16 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Pain and Glory, praising Almodóvar’s personal account of ageing, memory and the difficulty of making art when health falters. Antonio Banderas draws the strongest agreement: the reviews repeatedly single out his quiet, vulnerable performance as the ailing filmmaker, finding considerable feeling in his restraint. Praise also centres on the controlled use of colour, the movement between past and present, and the tenderness of the encounters with people from the director’s past. The differences concern how involving this self-examination becomes, with responses ranging from deeply moved to distinctly reserved. The AV Club admires Banderas but finds the reckonings remote and unfocused, while The Telegraph considers the writing uneven, despite touching reunion scenes. The Hollywood Reporter is more resistant to the autobiographical approach, finding it self-regarding and chiefly rewarding for devotees. For most critics, however, the gentler storytelling makes the memories and reconciliations more affecting. ## Time Out — Josep Lambies Rating 5/5. 7 May 2019. The film is hailed as a gorgeous, humane journey into an ageing filmmaker’s soul and one of Almodóvar’s most autobiographical works. The critic singles out the poignant tapestry of recollections and Banderas’s haunted performance. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/pain-and-glory) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 2 October 2019. Almodóvar is at his best, forging dazzling new paths while remaining completely himself in a dramatic rather than melodramatic autobiographical work. It concerns the creative impulse and the power of the past to revive and enlighten the present. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-10-02/pain-and-glory-pedro-almodovar-antonio-banderas-review) ## RogerEbert.com — Brian Tallerico Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 3 October 2019. Festival review. The film is a deeply personal and very moving work anchored by Antonio Banderas's best performance. It explores how pain and life shape art through an aging director's memories and reunions. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pain-and-glory-2019) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 25 August 2019. The critic praises this deeply personal autofictional work as bittersweet perfection and richly satisfying, highlighting Antonio Banderas's career-best performance as the stand-in for the director in crisis. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/25/pain-and-glory-review-pedro-almodovar-antonio-banderas-penelope-cruz) ## Film Comment — Manuel Yáñez Murillo Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 March 2019. The critic praises Almodóvar’s most cohesive and confessional film yet, a heart-rending meditation on memory, autofiction, and the director’s own life and ailments. Banderas delivers a nuanced performance as the surrogate filmmaker Salvador, with the film balancing personal warmth against historical and medical pain through restrained, fluid storytelling. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/review-pain-glory/) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 3 October 2019. Almodóvar has made one of his richest and most sombre films, gathering obsessions in an autumnal tale of ailments, memory and truthtelling. The film revives its protagonist through the act of describing his fading illusions and mortal health. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/pain-and-glory-tells-autumnal-truths) ## Variety — Peter Debruge Rating Critics Pick. 17 May 2019. Festival review. This remarkably mature metafiction explores the emotional scars underlying the director’s physical frailty with signature touches and a subtler authenticity. It rejects broad melodrama for direct confessional storytelling. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/cannes-film-review-pedro-almodovars-pain-and-glory-1203218880/) ## Vulture — David Edelstein Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 5 October 2019. The critic describes it as the gentlest and most emotionally naked movie Almodóvar has ever made, a confessional work that holds together with vulnerability and a simple, poignant closing image between mother and child that finally releases the tears. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/pain-and-glory-movie-review-pedro-almodvars-latest.html) ## Little White Lies — Adam Woodward Rating 4/4/5. 20 August 2019. Almodóvar delivers an exquisite, soulful self-portrait that builds a complex picture of a gifted but flawed artist. The critic highlights the film’s masterful handling of memory, addiction and late-career clarity. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/pain-and-glory) ## The i Paper — Nick Hasted Rating ★★★★. 22 August 2019. The critic praises this masterfully understated meditation on outliving notoriety and health while still making art from memory. They highlight Banderas's atypically quiet, Cannes-winning performance as the washed-up director. [Read the review](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/pain-and-glory-review-pedro-almodovar-release-times-penelope-cruz-antonio-banderas-cannes-329508) ## The Times Rating ★★★★. 24 August 2019. The critic calls it a beautiful and reflective work about an artist taking stock of his creativity and the pleasures of art, with strong performances and visual beauty throughout. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/art/article/pain-and-glory-review-antonio-banderas-and-pedro-almodovar-reunite-for-a-beautiful-and-reflective-work-wpfvjv3vr) ## The AV Club — Mike D'Angelo Rating B-. 1 October 2019. The critic praises Banderas’ rich, gravity-filled performance as the aging director but finds the film relatively low on actual pain or glory, with low-key reckonings that feel disappointingly remote and unfocused despite tender moments and stylish direction. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/antonio-banderas-brings-what-pain-and-glory-he-can-to-p-1838668885) ## The Telegraph Rating 3/5. 17 May 2019. Festival review. The review finds Antonio Banderas deeply touching but calls the film an uneven effort in self-reflexive nostalgia, with writing that is banal in parts but lifts in key reunion scenes. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2019/05/17/pain-glory-antonio-banderas-deeply-touching-uneven-effort-almodovar/) ## Empire — Ian Freer 19 August 2019. The critic describes it as a moving, meditative work of self-reflection and a major achievement, with Almodóvar turning inward. They single out Banderas's world-weary yet intimate performance and the film's beautiful control of colour, memory transitions and tenderness. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/pain-and-glory/) ## Evening Standard — David Sexton 23 August 2019. The critic calls the film delicious and perfectly poised, leaving viewers feeling better about the world. They single out Banderas's vulnerable, career-redefining performance and the film's many tender acts of reconciliation across time. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/pain-and-glory-review-a-perfect-reunion-lights-up-our-lives-a4219831.html) ## IndieWire — Eric Kohn 17 May 2019. Festival review. The review calls it Almodóvar’s best movie in years and his most personal, with Antonio Banderas excelling as a version of the auteur in what comes closest to a memoir. It highlights the intimate, confessional quality of the semi-autobiographical work. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/pain-and-glory-review-pedro-almodovar-cannes-2019-1202140740/) ## Screen Daily 15 May 2019. Festival review. Almodóvar’s introspective film is seen as a thinly veiled deep dive into the director’s own life, with strong performances but a cautious distance that keeps the audience at arm’s length until a superbly acted core scene. The Cannes competition entry is noted for revisiting familiar themes through opiate-fuelled reverie. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/pain-and-glory-cannes-review/5138909.article) ## Sight and Sound — Maria Delgado 21 August 2019. The critic praises Almodóvar’s latest as a richly layered work that uses reminiscence to explore both personal history and contemporary Spanish politics. Banderas’s restrained performance as the ailing filmmaker is singled out as anchoring the film’s emotional and intellectual depth. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/pain-glory-review-pedro-almodovar-makes-art-form-out-reminiscence) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Jonathan Holland 21 March 2019. Festival review. The critic sees the film as a thinly disguised autobiographical roundup of Almodóvar’s life and work that is exquisitely crafted and visually sumptuous but self-regarding and inward-looking. It is unlikely to be remembered fondly except by diehards, with strong performances and nostalgia for women and sexuality singled out amid its focus on pain over glory. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/pain-glory-review-1195284/) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Rating NYT Critic’s Pick. 3 October 2019. Almodóvar’s sublime film circles around art as self-creation in a contemplative story of memory, loss and imagination. It is visually striking with an elegantly structured narrative and powerful restraint. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/movies/pain-and-glory-review.html) ## Total Film 18 May 2019. Festival review. The critic finds it a fascinating, pensive addition to Almodóvar's oeuvre for aficionados, with superb work from Banderas in key scenes, though it covers too much familiar ground comfortably. They single out the recreation of the director's own apartment and the emotional payoff of past figures returning. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/pain-and-glory-a-film-pedro-almodovar-aficionados-will-find-much-to-obsess-over/) ## /Film — Chris Evangelista Rating 9/10. 12 September 2019. Festival review. Almodóvar's most autobiographical work is a tender, introspective portrait of an ageing filmmaker reflecting on personal pain, past relationships and creativity. The episodic structure, stunning visuals and Banderas's performance create a lush, enchanting experience that builds to a masterful conclusion. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/569042/pain-and-glory-review/) ## Deadline — Pete Hammond Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 2 October 2019. The critic calls it Almodóvar’s most personal film yet, likening it to his own 8½, and praises Banderas for a career-best performance as the ailing director reflecting on his life. They single out the tender reunion scene with an old lover and the luminous supporting turn by Penélope Cruz. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/video/pain-and-glory-review-antonio-banderas-delivers-career-best-performance-in-pedro-almodovars-most-personal-film/) ## Collider — Gregory Ellwood Rating B+. 20 May 2019. Festival review. The critic finds Pain and Glory to be Almodóvar’s most personal film yet but notes the first half feels arduous before Banderas opens up a new side to his character. It ultimately celebrates the director’s decision to disclose what he sees fit, ending on a glorious shot that reminds viewers life is a melodrama. [Read the review](https://collider.com/pain-and-glory-review-antonio-banderas-pedro-almodovar/) ## Den of Geek — Mark Harrison Rating 4/5. 21 August 2019. The review highlights Almodóvar’s self-reflective portrait of a filmmaker confronting pain and memory, carried by Banderas’s career-best dramatic performance. It notes the film’s two halves united by its contemplative depiction of creativity and the past, though the structure feels slightly uneven. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/pain-and-glory-review-pedro-almod-var-s-vivid-self-portrait/) ## Eye for Film — Richard Mowe 18 May 2019. Festival review. Almodóvar's most personal film yet follows an ageing gay filmmaker confronting depression, ill health and creative decline through reflections on his past. Banderas delivers a stunning performance as the director's alter ego, with the film achieving a bitter-sweet tone through simplicity and emotional engagement. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/pain-and-glory-2019-film-review-by-richard-mowe) ## Film Stories — Amanda Keats 2 September 2019. Almodóvar delivers a poetic exploration of art, love, legacy and family through the story of an ageing director reflecting on his life and pain. The film excels in its attention to human connections, vivid colours and textures, and Banderas's raw, understated performance, though it takes time to find its stride. [Read the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/pain-and-glory-review/) ## The Wrap — Steve Pond 2 October 2019. Festival review. The critic describes it as a lovely, gentle reverie and a rapturous meditation on past and present that nourishes rather than provokes. They single out Banderas’ quiet, affecting performance as the weary director and the film’s mature introspection and impeccable visual style. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/pain-and-glory-film-review-antonio-banderas-plays-pedro-almodovar-sort-of/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/pain-and-glory.md