Spanish actor Jarvier Bardem weaves a haunting portrayal of a devoted single father struggling on society’s edge in modern Barcelona in Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s “Biutiul.” Mexican director/writer Inarritu, who grabbed audiences’ attention with his remarkable three-part tale “Amores Perros” (“Life’s a Bitch”), again creates intersecting stories but squarely puts the focus on Bardem, as a father dying of cancer while trying to do right by his kids.

Bardem took best actor honors at Cannes for his moving performance and “Biutiful” has garnered an Oscar nomination. The striking, gifted actor stunned audiences in his portrayal of a real-life quadriplegic fighting for the right to die in the Oscar-winning “The Sea Inside” but many know him best for his relentless killer with the bowl haircut in “No Country for Old Men.”

The film opens with a beautiful, dream-like scene in a snowy forest, the meaning of which does not become clear until the film’s end. It abruptly switches to a doctor’s office, where the single father is stunned by his terminal diagnosis. Confiding in no one, Uxbal (Bardem) stoically goes about his life, sweetly caring for his growing daughter Ana (Hanaa Bouchaib) and young son Mateo (Guillermo Estrella) in his tiny apartment. The film’s odd title comes from a misspelled word scrawled on a child’s drawing.

Uxbal seeks out a living using his unique gift, the ability to communicate with the newly-dead, supplemented by fees for providing services to the city’s illegal immigrants.

Bardem plays a man seeking a kind of redemption in life’s twilight. Uxbal has no time to be sick, juggling various money-making schemes and coping with his mentally-unstable, unreliable ex-wife Marambra (Maricel Alvarez). It is clear he has a checkered past but now Uxbal is just devoted to creating some kind of stable life for his kids.

Unlike the director’s “Amores Perros,” which was peppered with dark humor, “Biutiful” is a heartbreaking drama, even grim at times. Yet the story becomes inspiring in the hands of the incomparable Bardem, aided by the director’s occasional visual excursions into the fantastical, like vivid blue butterflies unexpectedly clustered on a ceiling.

Uxbal’s physical decline is documented in unblinking fashion, showing us blood in his urine or the results of chemo. Occasionally we are startled by scenes of remarkable beauty or dream-like visions, often reflections of Uxbal’s inner life.

Uxbal’s personal journey is told along side tales of a shadowy underworld of undocumented workers. These subplots explore themes of exploitation and the desperate lives of hidden immigrants in lovely Barcelona’s shadows.

Rather than the sunny, art-filled Barcelona tourists see, this story takes place in run-down warehouses sheltering Chinese immigrants and cluttered, narrow backstreets where African families crowd into shabby apartments, with rarely a glimpse of that other world.

Scenes of Uxbal with his children are particularly moving, as he struggles to help with homework, although he cannot spell. He cooks dinners and makes up teasing games when they complain about eating the same thing again. He walks them to school and soothes their fears, while concealing his own deteriorating health. Uxbal is a man with an iron-will and big love but insufficient planning for his own death. He was too busy making money to visit a doctor and to think he might not last as long as he hopes.

“Biutiful” is a haunting, even heartbreaking film, largely thanks to Bardem’s powerful performance. Its complex, sometimes difficult subject matter and interlocking storylines are transformed into something magical by Inarritu’s lyrical approach and Bardem’s unforgettable character.

“Biutiful,” in Spanish with English subtitles, is now playing exclusively at Plaza Frontenac Cinema.