None of the films by Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish director and producer, has gone unnoticed. Not only because of the director’s name, which is already a brand itself. When we hear „Almodóvar”, we imagine Pedro himself, a specific frame from his films or actors and actresses who appeared in his productions, often for the first time. Yes, it was thanks to him that we got to know Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz and Rossy de Palma. And in 2024 (in Poland, the last days of December – that’s why this text is set right now) Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film (and the first one entirely in English) was released in cinemas: „The Room Next Door”.
Its heroines are two women, once close, who meet again by chance after many years, each at a special moment of life. Ingrid (Julianne Moore) is a writer who at a signing session for her latest book (where she writes, among other things, about the fear of death) gets to know that Martha (Tilda Swinton), her friend with whom she has not had contact for years, is seriously ill. After hearing that, she decides to immediately visit her in the hospital and from that moment on their friendship intensifies again. They not only reminisce about the old days, when they began their journalistic careers many years before, but they also talk about the future.
Martha was a war correspondent for years and death lurked at every turn. At that time, however, she had the choice whether she wanted to participate in it or not, and she consciously decided to report on events in armed conflict zones. Now she is battling an illness and not everything depends on her anymore. And she wishes it were different.
Ingrid is afraid of death and tries to address this issue by writing a book about it. However, when after many years she meets Martha, who is struggling with a serious illness, she does not run away from this acquaintance, although it is not easy for her to find herself in this unusual situation (at least at first). But she does not pretend anything, and instead of comforting Martha and saying „everything will be fine”, we hear: „I have no idea what to say to comfort you”. The time they spend together is not easy for either of them, although for each of them it is difficult in their own way.
In his latest film „The Room Next Door”, Pedro Almodóvar tackled perhaps one of the most difficult topics: illness, death, suffering, dignity. As always, his films anticipate public debate, but at the same time they talk about what is important, what is difficult and what many of us think or will think about. I have come across many opinions about this film (including from film critics) that it is not the same Almodóvar as before, that in „The Room Next Door“ there are unnatural dialogues and that it is probably the fault of the fact that the film is entirely in English, and Pedro created it in his head in Spanish. I think about all the authors of such comments: how lucky you are! I conclude that they never had one of the many conversations we can see in the film „The Room Next Door“. A conversation with a terminally ill person is not about chatting over coffee about what we did during the weekend or how angry we were with a colleague at work. These are awkward, incoherent conversations, very serious in one moment and about some trivial topic the next, trying to block the tears that flow from the eyes. We try to weigh every word and yet we keep discovering that we are mediocre interlocutors. And Almodóvar was able to capture all these emotions in the frames of his film.
Pedro once again touched the soul and the mind with his film. I wonder where he gets the strength to tackle such difficult and important topics. I would like to ask him about it in person sometime.
Is this film worth watching? Definitely yes. But if situations similar to those described in the film happen to you, it is better to watch it after a while, when you are ready.