PWith its classicism, its gravity, its depth, “The Room Next Door” recalls how Pedro Almodovar knew how to renew his contribution to cinema. The young, exuberant, trendy prince of the Spanish movida (“Tie me up”, “Stiletto heels”) has become an author worked by death, the relationship with the past and with fiction. Less flamboyant, more timeless. Her work has changed, gained in scope, but several cardinal values have run through her for forty years: vitality, individual freedom, love of women.
So many Almodovarian flames crackling again in this 23e feature film, the first filmed in English. Almost every actress in the world, including Madonna herself, dreams of working with the Madrid filmmaker. This privilege fell to Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. The first cultivates a distanced game, an iconic, even frozen image, at the risk of flirting with posture, but not here, when the second, incandescent, knows how to upset you with a look.
Beaux silences
Tilda Swinton plays Martha, a war reporter, and Julianne Moore Ingrid, a novelist. Two friends who lost touch. Two relationships with the world. The uncompromising and rigorous Martha wants to get as close as possible to reality, she has made it her job. Ingrid, more dreamy, flourishes in imagination, fiction, and assumes to protect herself from the attacks of life with a healthy dose of denial. The two women meet again when Ingrid learns that Martha is hospitalized in New York, suffering from terminal cancer. The end is near. The story, initially peppered with flashbacks, sometimes too long, gradually tightens around their relationship, evolving towards closed doors.
Martha wants to face death eye to eye. She chose to organize her suicide, obtained pills to put an end to it, and asks Ingrid to help her. How ? By his presence, by keeping him company during these last days, in a villa cut off from the world. Accompanying, giving time and attention, sharing long and beautiful silences: the simplest and absolute form of friendship, Pedro Almodovar tells us.
The filmmaker chose restraint, modesty, not at all melodrama
The screenplay is adapted from a novel, “What is your torment?” » by the American Sigrid Nunez. The filmmaker has chosen restraint, modesty, and not at all melodrama, at the risk of leaving spectators waiting for strong emotions. Don’t expect to burst into tears. We are rather struck, lastingly marked by the intelligence of his gaze and the humanity of these two women.
Has Almodovar become a “wise man”? Not to the point of renouncing his beliefs. In the last part, more militant and committed, he describes the difficulty of implementing this assisted suicide and the legal risks. A plea as sober as it is implacable, very political, for the right of everyone to die as they wish. At 75, against the weight of certain religious dogmas, Pedro Almodovar still celebrates freedom, and magnificently.
“The Room Next Door” by Pedro Almodovar, with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Duration: 1 hour 47 minutes. Released January 8.
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