"A beautiful, full-hearted celebration of the craft of filmmaking."
— Bradley Warren, The Playlist
"Pain and Glory is at once the gentlest and most emotionally naked movie Pedro Almodóvar has ever made."
— Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine (Vulture)
"A rebirth for both actor and director, Pain and Glory sees Banderas and Almodóvar at the peak of their electric, heart-wrenching capabilities."
— Luke Parker, We Got This Covered
"A surprise in all ways except its surpassing quality, Pain and Glory reveals master Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar forging dazzling new paths while being completely himself."
— Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"Economically and stunningly, Almodovar combines a high sense of style with a deep sense of humanity, along with a touch of erotic beauty that has always characterized his work."
— Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"It’s a puzzle play, with one of the best closing shots in memory. Film is its subject. So is life. With Mr. Almodóvar behind the camera and Mr. Banderas in front of it, film and life are synonymous."
— Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
"Antonio Banderas gives the performance of his career playing Pedro Almodovar, the director who discovered him. 'Pain and Glory,' suffused with memory and regret, is one of Almodovar's greatest films and a moving tribute to both their talents."
— Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"This is an especially personal work, anchored by the director’s on-off muse Antonio Banderas in perhaps his greatest performance and sweeps through the Spanish maestro’s recurrent themes: high melodrama and kitsch comedy, piety and carnal lust, sex and death, human pain and transcendent glory."
— Ed Frankl, The Film Stage
