THE ROOM NEXT DOOR
Venezia 81 – Competition
Spain, 2024. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto, Raúl Arévalo, Victoria Luengo, Esther McGregor, Melina Matthews. Running time 110′
Pedro Almodóvar had long dreamed of making his first English-speaking film. After abandoning the project of A Manual for Cleaning Women (‘I didn’t feel physically able,’ he said) and practising with the two short films The Human Voice and Strange Way of Life, he now presents himself to the judgement of the audience and jury of the 81. Venice Film Festival with The Room Next Door starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore (and more). Moore is a Novelist, and Swinton is a war reporter diagnosed with a terminal illness. The two women are friends who find themselves in an ‘extreme’ circumstance, and they give life to a story of feelings and resentment, about death, the cruelty of war and different ways of telling reality. Filmed in New York in the autumn of last year and in Madrid (over five months in which they both fell in love with the city), the film is ‘the natural successor to 2019’s Dolor y Gloria‘, according to Swinton herself, overwhelmed – and strongly desired – by the irresistible Pedro. ‘He sent me an email. Everything happened unexpectedly – she said to Vogue España. – One morning, I opened my computer and found it. I told my husband that Pedro Almodóvar had just sent me a message asking me to make a film with him and he said I had to say yes without batting an eyelid‘. Swinton and Almodovar worked together in 2020 for The Human Voice (the short premiered at the Lido. Almodovar received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement the previous year). In that case, the actress made a heartfelt request:’ Pedro, I don’t speak Spanish, but I would learn it for you. You can even write me a silent character. Please think about it’. The Manchego defines Swinton as ‘very atypical’, with ‘a unique face’, while Moore’s gaze strikes him (‘in her eyes you can see what she feels…. She is perfect in this role“). These elements already give an idea of the two complementary figures we will see on the screen in a story in which Almodóvar tackles the theme of the end of life in his way, from a position that is “totally in favour of dignity, in those moments“, and of freedom of choice. ‘One must be able to decide, in certain circumstances, especially when life offers very little, perhaps only pain. It is a question of humanity. ‘The idea of being able to offer a choice to someone who is terminally ill is important‘. He is echoed by Julianne Moore, who, together with her colleague, could be among the protagonists of the next Oscars, as predicted by one who has often given ‘good advice’ to the Academy like Alberto Barbera. ‘Tilda and Julianne Moore carry all the weight of the film by themselves and are incredible. At times, during filming, we were all on the verge of tears,’ adds the director, who has already won the statuette in 1999 (for All About My Mother) and 2003 (for the screenplay of Talk to Her). – But I am like the artist’s mother. If I had to choose whether to give the awards to me or them, I would prefer to go to them.
