Pedro Almodóvar is an acclaimed, highly respected Spanish filmmaker. His enormous talent was evident in some of his earliest films like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989).
His latest film, The Room Next Door, is about the complex relationship of two women, Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton). They are two friends who drifted apart over the years but have been reunited after Ingrid learns that her friend is battling advanced stage cancer.
They reconnect, reminiscing about their lives and their relationship including a shared lover Damian, played by John Turturro. Despite conventional and experimental treatment, Martha senses that her time on earth is running out. Rather than suffer her gradual, painful demise, she decides to take matters into her own hands and end her life on her terms with the use of an illegal drug overdose. What she is looking for is someone to be with her and comfort at the very end, in her words, “Someone in the next room.”
At first, Ingrid rejects the idea, but comes to realize that her friend has made up her mind. She agrees to spend time with Martha in the beautiful countryside in a stylishly modern house. For legal reasons, both women realize that no one can know the purpose of their stay. It must remain a closely guarded secret.
Martha explains that she will decide when the moment will come. Her signal to Ingrid is that she will simply leave her bedroom door closed. It is a quiet, ordinary gesture that Ingrid dreads. She knows the day will come, sooner rather than later.
The Room Next Door deserves credit for tackling the hot button topic of death and euthanasia. It is a discussion that is polarizing and fiercely debated. There are no simple answers, but Almodóvar begs us to ponder the plight of his fictional characters.
His approach is straightforward, nothing fancy, just shots and reverse shots of his two protagonists, for the most part. He trusts the talent of his two leading ladies to deliver the goods. They are two of the best actresses in the business. Their chemistry is what this movie is all about.
While the film has a slow start, the drama builds as the story unfolds. It is emotionally wrenching. Though we all know where it’s going, it’s not the linear story arc we might expect, with commentary and insight all the way.
Almodóvar takes the opportunity to not only weigh in on our own personal choices about life and death, but about the much larger issue of what amounts to the suicide of humanity, due to global warming and climate change. It’s spelled out in a memorable exchange between Damian and Ingrid at a restaurant.
The performances here are first-rate, as you’d expect. Tilda Swinton’s performance has an additional unexpected aspect that needs to be seen. No spoilers here.
On a minor note, there is a fleeting moment in the film, in a flashback, in which one of Ingrid’s friends, a male photographer, raises his camera to take a photograph with the lens cap clearly still on the camera lens. It’s a tiny goof, but a reminder that even the greatest of movie directors is still human, and sometimes fallible.
This might be the only flaw in a movie that has the dramatic heaviness of an Ingmar Bergman film. It is a well-crafted film about a controversial topic. Is it Almodóvar’s best film? Arguably not, but it is still worth seeing.
Part of the draw is the mesmerizing performance of Tilda Swinton who has had a long list of acclaimed films. I met her once years ago when she appeared at a lecture at Carnegie Mellon University. Through some stroke of luck, I was offered a 15-minute private interview with her in the hallway, outside the lecture room auditorium.
It was an unforgettable experience. I was struck with her very presence. She was tall (made even taller with the wedge cork shoes she was wearing). She appeared to wear no makeup. Her short blonde hair was pulled back forcing attention to her signature, penetrating blue eyes and high cheek bones.
In some ways, she appeared strange and unearthly, as she does in many of her movie roles. Her beauty was striking, and her interview was warm, friendly and thoughtful. She is a unique, one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-generation talent, and that quality makes her performances stand out. The Room Next Door is no exception.