After his coronation at the Venice Film Festival, Pedro Almodóvar presents this Wednesday January 8, 2025 The room next doorhis first English-language feature film. Adapted from the novel So what is your torment? by Sigrid Nunez, the film follows the reunion of two university friends, Martha (Tilda Swinton) and Ingrid (Julianne Moore), while the first suffers from incurable cancer and intends to kill herself before the disease wins.
To do this, she will ask her friend for help and rent a luxurious villa for a month; rental at the end of which Martha will end her days in her room, close to that of Ingrid.
A question of contrasts
With The room next doorPedro Almodóvar intends to dissect the end of life, death and the notion of inheritance in a less joyful film than what the filmmaker has accustomed us to in his filmography. However, despite a heavy subject, the feature film nonetheless remains very luminous thanks to a colorful staging multiplying the contrasts and plunging us into the almost ghostly world of Edward Hooper’s paintings.
This scenographic choice brings a gentle charm to The room next doorwhich contrasts with its spectral aspect as well as its play of light between mirrors and shadows. This is also how we recognize Almodóvar’s touch, although the musicality of the dialogues in English appears less impactful or acerbic than in Spanish.
Women’s doubles and muses
The room next door nonetheless remains a face-to-face film in which Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton display their talent with grace and emotion. With this iconic and elegant duo, Pedro Almodóvar continues the exploration of the feminine double, as a filmmaker conquered by the notion of the muse.
After having seen Marisa Paredes, Antonio Banderas and of course Penélope Cruz evolve in front of his camera, the 75-year-old director continues this quest for the muse and the double in his first feature film in the English language, cultivating both the complementarity of his actresses and their differences.
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More than a way of working, the notion of the double thus becomes a real subject of cinema for Pedro Almodóvar. And this to the point of offering Tilda Swinton a double role. Indeed, the British actress plays Martha, a former war reporter who sacrificed her relationship with her daughter for her field work and who, on her deathbed, begins to regret this life choice.
However, the director corrects the situation here by also offering the actress the role of the girl; a double game and a stunning reincarnation which, apart from the subject of euthanasia or the consequences on those around them, give The room next door an abstract beauty. This choice further underlines the notion of contrast between Ingrid and Martha, between life and death, in shadow and light, between health and illness.
Furthermore, Pedro Almodóvar films the female characters like no other, masterfully capturing their flaws, their sensitivity and their tenderness. It must be said that the artist knows how to surround himself. By working with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, he offers them a unique score made of strength and vulnerability. A writing in which the two actresses excel despite the weight of the subject.
The duo never falls into pathos and, although the film appears less vibrant than some of the master Almodóvar’s masterpieces, The room next door is a powerful feature film about love and friendship. A friendship between two women who have chosen each other as life and death partners.
The room next doorby Pedro Almodóvar, with Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, 1h47, January 8, 2025 at the cinema.
