which book inspired Pedro Almodóvar’s next film?

Awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the film The room next door by Pedro Almodóvar will be released in cinemas next January. A feature film in English, inspired by a famous novel.

Julianne Moore had lost hope of one day seeing Pedro Almodovar direct a film in English. But in addition to seeing it, the Oscar-winning actress had the chance to play in it and thus opposite Tilda Swinton. Next January 8 will be released in theaters The room next doorthe first English-language feature film by Pedro Almodóvar. Attached to his native language for his cinema, the director awarded the Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Film Festival was inspired by the book So what is your torment? (What Are You Going Through) by Sigrid Nunez, published in 2020, to create one of the most impactful melodramas of his career.

In The room next doorwe follow Ingrid, a novelist who lives in New York and who is afraid of death to the point of taking inspiration from it for her new book, On Sudden Deaths. Although they have lost contact for several years, she finds her friend Martha, a war correspondent suffering from cervical cancer who does not have long to live. When they meet again, the two women talk about the years they worked together, until the day Martha asks Ingrid to accompany her on a trip she hopes will be the last.

What are the differences between the film and the book?

A filmmaker without tongue in cheek, Pedro Almodóvar has since his beginnings never really shown restraint in tackling hard-hitting and concerning subjects, such as HIV, organ donation and now euthanasia. However, if he was inspired by the novel by Sigrid Nunez to The room next doorJulianne Moore admits that there are actually “lots of differences” between the book and the film by the Spanish director. “There are many different stories, and this part of the novel is only a small part of the whole book”admitted the actress, who herself read the book, in an interview with Deadline. And to add: “I think as Pedro read it, he realized that it was a story that interested him, and he thought he could expand on it and make it his own story.” As the director wanted to impose his own vision of New York by shooting his film, the action of which takes place in the Big Apple, mainly in Madrid.