Luis Buñuel, later a noted filmmaker, is dismayed as his friends, surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and poet Federico García Lorca, develop a love affair.

Salvador, who is determined to become a great artist, soon catches the attention of the Resi's social elite — poet Federico García Lorca (Javier Beltrán) and aspiring filmmaker Luis Buñuel (Matthew McNulty).

Enveloped by the high society and decadence there, Salvador is soon entangled with Gala (Arly Jover), a married woman with a penchant for celebrities.

Details of the relationship between Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca have long been the subject of speculation and debate among historians and biographers.

In Little Ashes, Dalí's and Lorca's feelings are shown deepening into a love affair that the sexually repressed painter tries (but fails) to consummate.

When you look at the letters it's clear something more was going on there[...] It began as a friendship, became more intimate and moved to a physical level but Dalí found it difficult and couldn't carry on.

The site's critic consensus states, "It has a beautiful cast, but Little Ashes suffers from an uneven tone and a surplus of unintentionally silly moments.

"[13] Ty Burr of the Boston Globe panned the film and wrote: "What's intended to be a daring look at repressed sexuality, three-ways and all, has the dramatic heft of a true-love comic book".

[14] Greg Quill of the Toronto Star wrote: "Even cinematographer Adam Suschitzky's richly textured and resonantly toned cityscapes and rural scenes can't make up for a flawed script and weak performances in what might have been a powerful historical drama".

[15] Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press commented that: "The movie, with its badly painted backdrops, its stiff acting and its complete lack of dramatic momentum, is embarrassing to watch".

[16] But, Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film a positive review by calling it: "A bravely earnest and gauzy bit of biography".