Directed By Pedro Almodóvar

Starring – Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro

The Plot – Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation

Rated PG-13 for thematic content, strong adult language, and some sexual references

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR | Official Trailer (2024)

POSITIVES

The boundaries of friendship are tested between two lifelong friends who seamlessly pick up the pieces in ways that feel like they never missed a step. This friendship between Ingrid and Martha is what truly drives the movie’s foundation, as not only does the impeccable chemistry of real life friends Moore and Swinton transpire believably in ways that the audience can coherently interpret in both the ways they look and interact around each other, but also this elephant in the room of a dilemma, which involves Martha attempting to euthanize herself, as she suffers endlessly from this hopeless form of cancer that has greatly diminished the familiarity in her personality. Almodóvar approaches their delicate situation with a tangible tenderness between them that feels enriched in trust, despite one glaring secret between them that unfortunately goes unexplored, and when combined with the kind of gorgeous presentations that Pedro has made a career of articulating in such captivating three-dimensional imagery, proves that even stories pertaining to something so grim and vulnerable doesn’t sacrifice the beauty that is life emanating from all around them. Between masterful photography of these elegantly intricate set designs, with a blossoming of color that permeates from meticulous placements around the lens, and transfixing scenery of the movie’s locations, Almodóvar proves that he’s always been one of the best at capably establishing a scene, and while a majority of this film is set within this massive condominium away from civilization, he still finds imaginatively invigorating methods of incorporating color to pop in choreographed circumstances, bringing some of that foreign flare to the stellar cinematography that simultaneously holds you in its gaze while tearing you apart from the depths of the dilemma. On that subject, regardless of how you feel about personal euthanasia and its morality among a society that condemns it, the script has plenty of food for thought in thought-provoking commentary that empathizes with Martha’s mental isolation, all with that unapologetic honesty from Pedro that we’ve come to expect in movies that he’s helmed. As to where some of his other social commentary here felt a bit too heavy-handed and even unnecessary for this particular thematic engagement, his heart is always in the right place with his perceptions on mental health, where in the explorations and interactions of supporting characters, conveys reality in the kind of world post-pandemic that we’re currently dealing with, inscribing an essence of real-world familiarity to the fictional enveloping that presents its greatest strength in relatability to the audience. Lastly, ‘The Room Next Door’ wouldn’t be half of the film it is without the meritedly moving performances from Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, who each cement so much compassionate heart and vulnerability to their respective causes, all the while enacting them in entirely different conflicts. Beyond the aforementioned chemistry that brandishes such lived-in kind of affection between their platonic intimacy, despite contradictory feelings on death, individually their performances are just as meaningful, with Moore’s tenderness complimenting Swinton’s somber melancholy in ways that are every bit authentically raw as they are meticulously measured. Without anything that even comes close to resembling overzealously melodramatic deliveries, each of them emit such a stoic confidence to their respective portrayals that seemingly brings the camera closer to them when divided, almost as a curious party of its own that listens to their despair without judging, and while Moore is established early as the prominent protagonist whom we follow throughout the film’s duration, Swinton’s frail suffering is the moon that every other arc and element to the film orbits around, where her situational loneliness can be devastatingly felt, despite the proximity of a close friend who quite literally drops everything to be alongside her.

NEGATIVES

Though ‘The Room Next Door’ was a film that I enjoyed for its honesty and thought-provoking insights pertaining to mental and physical health, it’s not exactly one that I loved, beginning with the conflictual opening act that doesn’t exactly get the film off to the best of starts. Part of this is because of its need to focus relentlessly on these strange series of flashbacks for past loves in their lives, instead of developing the backstories of Ingrid and Martha, a fact that we still never receive answers for why they were distanced for years, to begin with, but more trouble comes from the abrupt nature of its initial storytelling, which takes Martha’s cancer from operable to inoperable in the matter of quite literally two minutes. With a film that clocks in briefly at 100 minutes, it’s clear that some urgency is necessary to keep the storytelling moving, but here the rampant nature of its springing developments completely eviscerate any dramatic impact that the deliveries have in connecting to an audience, and when combined with Martha’s increasingly deteriorating condition over a week in this story’s length, it made it difficult to properly assess just how urgent that this situational conflict is for her, especially with the movie’s pacing constantly rushing so many natural developments. The dialogue also plays a key hinderance towards investing into the depths of these various interactions, with a stunted sense of structure and delivery from these amazing answers that rarely felt believable. The definite reason for this is the movie represents Almodóvar’s feature length debut in the English language, as it soon becomes evident that some essence of naturalism and momentum in the foreign dialect doesn’t translate as effectively, with some conversations even distressing the tonal plausibility that encapsulates what each scene calls for, inscribing unintended laughter during moments that so obviously called for drama. Speaking of tone deaf realities, the movie’s score from longtime Almodóvar collaborator, Alberto Iglesias, are movingly entrancing compositions, but feel like they’re plucked from an entirely different movie, especially with two particular themes pertaining to scenes feeling like they existed in a suspenseful thriller. Without spoiling what happens in the scenes themselves, I can say that each of them pertain to the uncertainty of Ingrid overlooking Martha’s well-being, where scenes pertaining to somberly sentimental instead call upon suspensefully scintillating to render the emotionality of the characters, feeling distracting during those key touching moments where it feels like tears will finally summon from a story cloaked in so much overwhelming vulnerability. Finally, I previously alluded to Almodóvar going overboard on social commentary that has little to no relevance in a story like this, and it serves as the biggest example of why the director has always been hit or miss with how I feel about his filmography. Here, the delves are a bit too political and fear-baiting to fit accordingly to the conversations that call upon them, and while I always appreciate when a script can blur the lines of fantasy and reality, the reminders elicited here remove that element of escapism that films typically offer, halting the progress of scene developments abruptly, in favor of the director commenting on the state of the country, which feels so forced and heavy-handed from these particular characters delivering them.

OVERALL
‘The Room Next Door’ offers a stylistically entrancing but entertainingly conflicting English language debut for Pedro Almodóvar, who through the device of reunited distant friends delves into the reconciling of imminent death, surprisingly illustrates the joys and value worthy of living through life. While memorable turns are capably elicited from Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, with the air of authenticity in their real-life friendship translating seamlessly to the dynamic of their characters’ readjusting interactions, the film surrounding their efforts is a creatively rushed and tone-deaf execution that squanders the sentiment, enacting a film that I greatly respected, even if not necessarily one that I overwhelmingly enjoyed.

My Grade: 6.2 or C-