Clematis JIngle Bells an unholy mess

My Clematis 'Jingle Bells' has suddenly become a real fat mess of twigs because I have failed to prune it after flowering. I think I took 'no prune' too literally! It has just stopped producing flowers, and I need to tackle it. I think I have no option but to just cut and cut and then try and pull out the loose twigs. I will be cutting it all over the place doing this. I don't expect mass of flowers next year but can you reassure me it will recover. Or any other way to tackle? Dismantling it and laying it on the ground isnt an option. It flowered like a dream this winter so it does feel very brutal! Thank you

 

Without seeing it, I would say be ruthless as a rule. I've spent more time than I like to admit unwinding clematis stems to try and save more of a plant when the best option would have been to just mercilessly hack it a few feet from the ground.
I've just done the same with "freckles", which is a cirrhosa type like jingle bells. With that I could see some young growth from lower down that could be saved but the heady top growth was just removed. Given that the plant has an established root ball, I think it will recover and flower well enough this winter for me to not regret my actions.

I know there are different groups for clematis but knowing how the others spring back from a complete hair cut, gave me confidence that group 1 will likely be similar.