Pain and Glory

Pain and Glory

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Produced by El Deseo, TVE

2019114 min7.4 / 10

A tender, introspective meditation on aging, creative mortality, and the inseparability of art from lived experience, told through fragmented memories and emotional reckonings.

Salvador Mallo, a filmmaker in the twilight of his career, remembers his life: his mother, his lovers, the actors he worked with. The sixties in a small village in Valencia, the eighties in Madrid, the present, when he feels an immeasurable emptiness, facing his mortality, the incapability of continuing filming, the impossibility of separating creation from his own life. The need of narrating his past can be his salvation.

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Questions people ask

  • Is Pain and Glory sad? Yes, very. More sad than 96% of films.

  • Is Pain and Glory one of a kind? Yes. More singular than 85% of films.

  • Is Pain and Glory scary? Barely. Less frightening than 76% of films.

  • Is Pain and Glory violent? Barely. Less violent than 76% of films.

  • Is Pain and Glory easy watching? Somewhat. More comforting than 71% of films.

  • Does Pain and Glory end with hope? About average. Almost exactly mid-range.

These describe how the film comes across, measured across the whole film and compared with other well-known films. They are not a content list — nothing here was counted or checked scene by scene, so for age-suitability or specific content use a classification board or a dedicated content-warning service.

Written about

65/ 100

Cinnamon Score

How much this film gives you that nothing else will, and whether it delivers.

Distinctly its own thing.

Rarity87

How unlike any other film this one feels

Surprise32

How much more it delivers than it promises

Love85

How much audiences actually like it

The highest scores in the catalogue →

Ensemble

Everything like Pain and Glory, and what each one shares →

Like Pain and Glory

Nearest across the full emotional profile.

Same Mood as Pain and Glory

Nearest on what's most distinctive about this one.

Like Pain and Glory, But Darker

Similar, pushed toward heavier and more intense.

Like Pain and Glory, But Lighter

Similar, pushed toward warmer and easier.

Like Pain and Glory, But Less Popular

Same territory, far fewer people have seen it.

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