Pain and Glory features the return of celebrated actor Antonio Banderas. Antonio plays the role of Salvador Mallo, a film director whose best days are behind him. The plot portrays a part of Salvador’s story in real-time and a part of it through flashbacks.
The flashbacks detail his rise to fame from a primitive village boy to a struggling film director. Viewers get to see Salvador’s journey as an immigrant to the point where he fell in love with the city of Madrid and the cinema. The flashbacks also reveal the sad story of a heart broken by love, and an attempt to heal through writing.
Salvador’s present life is in crisis. His mental and physical ailments are compounded when his film, Flavour, is re-released to a more appreciative audience. In an effort to rediscover himself, Salvador reaches out to Flavour’s lead actor, Alberto Crespo. Alberto offers to help, but he only serves to introduce Salvador to heroin abuse.
Salvador comes face to face with some tough truths, but the revelations allow him to get over his crisis. Pain and Glory is already a major hit, and it helped Antonia Banderas win the award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film was released in Spain on 22nd March 2019, and it set to be released in the United States on 4th October 2019.
Will Pain and Glory come to Netflix?
You are probably wondering whether you will watch Pain and Glory on Netflix. The unfortunate answer is that is unlikely that the Spanish drama will appear on Netflix.
Pain and Glory will be distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing International. Sony Pictures has a deal with Starz that keeps Sony movies away from Netflix. At the moment, Netflix only has rights to Sony animation flicks.
Other types of Sony films are exclusively available on Starz TV. The deal runs up to 2021, and so it’s unlikely that Pain and Glory will appear on Netflix.
Similar films on Netflix
Fortunately, there are several other Spanish films available on Netflix.
Roma – The 2018 film follows the life of a housemaid who works for a wealthy family. Soon, the lives of the housekeeper and her employer, Sofia, become intertwined. This Spanish film contains the intrigues that come with love, death, and evil.
El Hijo (The Son) – This film features the story of a brilliant painter, Lorenzo, and his son. Lorenzo fears that his wife wants to separate him from his son. El Hijo is based on a novel by an Argentinian writer named Guillermo Martinez.