Pain and Glory (15)

A Spanish film director must come to terms with his dying career, and he reflects on the choices he’s made as his past and present come crashing down around him. Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Asier Etxeandia star in this intimate Spanish language drama.

Aging Spanish director Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas) is struggling to make a living from what he loves and is coming to terms with his career’s steady decline. As the painful truth takes hold of him, his mind wanders to the past and he begins to recount how each moment and decision has affected his journey.

Initially reminiscing with fond nostalgia, we are taken to Salvador’s youth. But he soon realises that each glorious high comes with a more painful low, and, even now, the Spaniard still can’t escape the suffering that came from the relationship with his first love breaking down.

The years that followed saw him begin to find love for something once more, as he turned to film writing as a source of some solace. But good things never last, and the painful reality of being unable to continue with his film career is becoming ever clearer.

Penélope Cruz (Everybody Knows, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Volver), Antonio Banderas (Life Itself, The Mask of Zorro, The Skin I Live In) and Asier Etxeandia (The Bride, Velvet, Ma Ma) star in this honest, intimate and emotive Spanish language drama, that explores pain, self-discovery and regret.

Cert: 15

Running time: 1hr 53mins