Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #4. Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria) – Pedro Almodóvar

Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria)

One of the most influential Spanish auteurs of all time, Pedro Almodóvar will be set to unveil his 21st feature in 2019 with Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria), which will reunite him with two of his most famed cast members, Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz (not to mention a host of usual suspects such as Julieta Serrano and Cecilia Roth). The film will also serve as the film debut of Catalan pop star Rosalia. The feature, which sounds to be in the hyper-autobiographical template of something like Fellini’s 8 1/2 , was produced through Almodóvar’s production house El Deseo alongside his brother Agustin and Esther Garcia. Almodóvar has competed fives time previously for the Palme d’Or, taking home the Best Director and Ecumenical Jury Prize for 1999’s All About My Mother, and snagging Best Screenplay for 2006’s Volver, and returning in 2009 with Broken Embraces, 2011 with The Skin I Live In, and 2016 with Julieta (2004’s Bad Education opened the Cannes Film Festival but was out-of-competition).

Gist: Almodóvar penned the script for his latest, which deals with a film director in his twilight years looking back on his life. Described as an Almodóvar film with male protagonists, Banderas and Asier Etxeandia will play the lead roles while Cruz and company will this time be supporting cast members (a gender reversal from 2016’s femme-centric Julieta).

Release Date/Prediction: Shot over the summer of 2018, we expect Almodóvar to return to Cannes in 2019 for the sixth time in competition.