When the film won director Pedro Almodovar’s Golden Lion at this summer’s Venice Film Festival, there were three types of critics who were surprised. Some were surprised to learn that this was Almodovar’s first award at a major European festival. Some were politely surprised that this was supposed to be the movie that ended up being a success…and that it was supposed to win any awards. For myself, it’s as sumptuous and engrossing as his recent work, with sumptuous, self-aware performances from Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, and an undertow of darkness that proponents and naysayers often overlook. I felt that it was something that I could become, and that it was deeply mysterious.
This is Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, which he wrote himself, and is an adaptation of Sigrid Nuñez’s novel What Are You Going Through. Although set in the United States, it was also filmed on sets and locations in Spain. Therefore, the novelty of the English language may expose Almodovar’s familiar style to some people, making it seem shrill and inauthentic. (And yes, I admit it too. The “war photographer” character, with his airy bohemianism and effortless sincerity, is a bit off-the-wall, and the “dark web” was used to facilitate the story’s turn.) It is foolish to rely on
But to me, this change in English only emphasizes the filmmaking idiom he learned from Hitchcock and Sirk, and it feels so natural and intense to Almodovar. As always, there’s a rich and omnipresent orchestral score, the design has mesmerizingly rich blocks of color (particularly the underlying arterial red), and – in a manner that is entirely characteristic of Almodovar – the story is Overlapping, interspersed with flashbacks and incidental scenes. It is semi-isolated from the downstream flow of storytelling.
Moore plays Ingrid, a best-selling author who learns that an old friend she hasn’t spoken to or thought about in years has died of cancer. Swinton plays war correspondent Martha. They both dated the same man (John Turturro). First Martha, then Ingrid. The two women are warmly and happily reunited in Martha’s hospital room. The shadow of death enriches their rekindled friendship and encourages Martha to ask for a favor. She plans to spend her last peaceful weekend in a rented house in the countryside and then self-euthanize with special medicine. Armed with denial, she wants Ingrid to be in the next room while she does this. She could tell the police she had no knowledge of these intentions.
Martha is honest with Ingrid from the beginning. She wasn’t my first choice. She asked a couple of others and they said no. This indiscretion later puts Ingrid in legal jeopardy. However, despite being close to Martha, Ingrid is not honest with Martha about something more important. Almodovar keeps us thinking about what to do about this workaround until the very end, but in any case, the extraordinary scene with Martha’s grown-up (and not-so-stylish) daughter that follows puts him out of the audience’s head. This thing could disappear in a flash.
“The Next Room” is very Almodovarian. A dream-like space filled with people and places that are completely unrealistic, a place warm enough to sunbathe outdoors, but sometimes (perhaps simultaneously) cold enough to snow, and where the last line of James is quoted. has been done. Joyce’s story “The Dead.” When it comes to the timely issue of assisted dying, the characters’ apparent wealth is a palliative not available to everyone, but the idea is intensely and raptly evoked. Saying goodbye is something we all have to do at some point. I have to prepare.
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The Room Next Door will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland from October 25th.
