The Room Next Door
In his first English-language feature, Pedro Almodóvar finds valuable muses in Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.
Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore
Image courtesy of Warner Bros.
Pedro Almodóvar's latest work, his first feature to be shot in English, won the Golden Lion as the Best Film at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. A number of reviews that appeared then were ecstatic but nevertheless later critical assessments have proved far more divisive with some dismissing The Room Next Door as being far too artificial. Judge it on the quality of the performances and the high praise is justified, but when considered as a whole a certain artificiality does indeed make itself felt and how readily one accepts that will probably decide audience responses.
Although this film derives from a novel by Sigrid Nunez, Almodóvar’s adaptation has become a film which can certainly be considered a very personal work. Now aged seventy-five, he is contemplating life and death in a way to be expected at his age. At its heart The Room Next Door is a reflection on death, on how individuals approach it and on the issue of euthanasia. It is presented in the form of a story about two old friends who have drifted apart but meet up again at a moment of crisis. One of them is a successful novelist named Ingrid (Julianne Moore) who, at a book signing in New York, learns that Martha (Tilda Swinton) is nearby but in hospital where she is undergoing experimental cancer treatment. As soon as Ingrid visits Martha their old friendship is quickly re-established and, indeed, it is to Ingrid that Martha turns with a special request. Once an intrepid war correspondent, Martha has no wish to continue the cancer treatment and in order to avoid the pain involved she has illegally acquired a euthanasia pill through the dark web and now plans to take it before the date when she is expected to resume the procedures. She is, as she tells Ingrid, quite ready to die but she does not want to spend her last days alone. That is why she asks Ingrid if she will accompany her to a hired house in Woodstock and be at hand there in the room next door. Ingrid herself is far more uneasy about dying but supportively agrees to Martha’s suggestion.
This is a situation in which the two central figures play such a prominent part that one would not have been surprised to have learnt that the source material was a stage play rather than a novel. However, the film introduces a number of subsidiary characters partly through neatly incorporated flashbacks. These provide a means of telling us about Martha's distant relationship with her daughter who was born to her at an unduly early age and about the child’s father who had walked away and had subsequently died traumatised by his experiences in the Vietnam war. Other characters with a role to play in the present include Damian (John Turturro) who had once been Martha's lover and then Ingrid’s but without any ill feelings being caused by that.
As will be apparent from this description, the subject of assisted dying is central here and it is clear that Almodóvar is advocating the right to it and critical of those who oppose it on account of their religious beliefs. In addition, we find dismay being expressed over the situation inherent in climate change and, indeed, as voiced by Damian, the outlook of the world is seen to be grim. At the same time The Room Next Door is appreciative of making the most of the moment. The beauty of the Woodstock area is splendidly emphasised, the pleasures of literature are discussed (Faulkner, Hemingway, the Bloomsbury set and, unexpectedly, the Roger Lewis book about Burton and Taylor Erotic Vagrancy are all referenced) and Martha and Ingrid settle down to view films including Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances and John Huston's magnificent final film The Dead.
Good as the supporting players are, this film inevitably depends for its impact on its two leading players. Julianne Moore is on fine form but it is Swinton whose role makes her the heart of the movie. Shot in widescreen, the film offers many close-ups of heads as the two women talk and the very first shot of Swinton is the greatest close-up of all, one fully expressive of the actress playing from the inside. But, even if she is intensely real, the question of artificiality cannot be ignored. To define wherein it lies is not easy. The production design although characteristic of Almodovar’s colourful style is not really the issue I feel. It is more to do with the dialogue and, while one might ask if rendering the text into English is responsible, what one really notices here especially in the earlier scenes is the constant flow of words with barely a pause. It’s that and one or two occasions when one senses that a speech has all too obviously been set up to deliver the author’s message which make the words sound like those of a writer rather than the natural dialogue of the characters. And not even the brilliance of Swinton and Moore can prevent that happening - which is why in at least one scene the audience at the screening I attended could be heard laughing inappropriately.
If that is halfway to being a stumbling block, it must also be said that when it comes to films about assisted dying François Ozon’s 2021 film Everything Went Fine eclipses this one and for that matter referencing The Dead three times over reminds one of a masterpiece which achieved so much more than this film. But The Room Next Door does contain great acting and the first half of it especially has a quite admirable flow to the storytelling. There’s an interesting final section too which moves in a fresh direction and takes on a more symbolical character while at the same time prompting thoughts of a director much admired by Almodóvar, namely Ingmar Bergman. This may be a mixed bag but it is certainly sincere and never uninteresting. In this instance the best advice that a critic can give is to see it and draw your own conclusions.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola, Alex Høgh Andersen, Esther McGregor, Victoria Luengo, Alvise Rigo, Sarah Demeestere, Anh Duong, Melina Matthews.
Dir Pedro Almodóvar, Pro Agustin Almodóvar, Screenplay Pedro Almodóvar, from the novel What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez, Ph Eduard Grau, Pro Des Inbal Weinberg, Ed Teresa Font, Music Alberto Inglesias, Costumes Bina Daigeler.
El Deseo/Pathé/Sony Pictures Classics/Moviestar Plus+/Washington Square Films-Warner Bros.
107 mins. Spain/USA. 2024. UK Rel: 25 October 2024. US Rel: 20 December 2024. Cert. 12A.
