Film
Jacob Mendez
Jacob Mendez

“In the Room Next Door”: A Review of Pedro Almodovar’s New Film. On Your Own Terms

  • In the movie “In the room next door” The Oscar winners played Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton), old friends who worked at the same New York magazine early in their careers. Ingrid, now a bestselling author, reconnects with Martha, who is battling late-stage cancer.
  • “The Room Next Door” debuted at the current Venice Film Festival. It is the first full-length English-language film directed by Pedro Almodóvar.

In his new film, the Spanish director has changed a lot. He has replaced his homeland with the landscapes of New York and its surroundings, the language he uses on a daily basis with English, and his greatest muse, Penélope Cruz, with two other outstanding actresses: Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. He had already worked with the former a few years ago on the short film “The Human Voice” (2020). But it was the latter who uttered words at the Venice festival, where the film had its world premiere, that to some extent reflect what remains unchanged in Almodóvar. “When you watch Pedro’s films, you can almost feel the heartbeat of everyone around you,” Moore argued. And although there is probably some courtesy in this, it is hard to deny Almodóvar’s emotional involvement and the fact that you cannot pass by his cinema indifferently. Except, half-jokingly, given the subject of “In the Next Room”, that heartbeat is getting weaker and weaker.

As one might guess from the cast, Almodovar has two main characters. Ingrid (Moore) is a popular writer who has just published a new novel. Martha (Swinton), on the other hand, is a former war correspondent who is currently fighting her most difficult opponent in life, which is an advanced stage of cancer. Although calling it a fight may not be entirely justified. The prognosis is so unfavourable that the outcome of this struggle is already a foregone conclusion, which the woman is clearly reconciled with. The only question is when and under what circumstances. And this is precisely what Martha, also due to her former profession, accustomed to independence and self-determination, wants to interfere in. What’s more, in these last moments she does not want to be alone, hence the need for someone to be in the rented villa until the very end… in the next room.

It is no wonder that Almodóvar, talking about leaving on his own terms, is a slightly different director than when he talked about desire. More subdued, reflective, subdued (also in the palette of colors used in the film). Certainly still expressive. Able to skillfully leave his mark on the story being told. And the topic is delicate and one that does not yield to binary judgment. Besides, the lion’s share of the plot and the mutual interaction between the main characters are considerations, doubts, mental simulations (and not only!) related to the decision made by Martha. There are more questions, because not only those related to the possibility of deciding about one’s life seem justified, but also those regarding the assistance itself. Isn’t burdening someone with such an experience, and at the same time with possible legal consequences, a manifestation of excessive egoism, going far beyond friendship?

Neither Almodóvar nor his heroines make any clear theses. Fortunately, because otherwise the Spanish director’s new film would become unbearable journalism. And that’s probably the furthest association that could describe Don Pedro. “In the Room Next Door” is a subtle sense of humor, but still quite a bitter reflection on the passage of time, written for two female voices. And these are loud voices, because no one really needs convincing about the class of Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. It seems to me that Pedro Almodóvar is slowly summing up his rich and colorful career. He is doing it consciously. And on his own terms.

7/10

“In the room next door”directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain 2024.

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