THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Watch The Trailer

Storyline (warning: spoilers)

This is Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, scripted by Almodóvar himself, adapting Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through. Ingrid, played by Moore, is a bestselling author who learns that an old friend of hers is dying of cancer, someone she hasn’t contacted or thought about in years; this is war correspondent Martha, played by Swinton. They both dated the same man (John Turturro); first Martha, then Ingrid.
The two women are warmly, even joyfully reunited in Martha’s private hospital room; the shadow of death gives a richness to their rekindled friendship where Martha asks a favour. She intends to spend one last weekend in the country and then self-euthanise. She wants Ingrid to be in the next room while she does this, armed with deniability – she can tell the cops she knew nothing of these intentions. From the outset, Martha is honest with Ingrid: she wasn’t her first choice. She asked two or three other people but they said no; an indiscretion which is later to bring Ingrid close to legal jeopardy. But Ingrid, for her part, is not honest with Martha about something even more important. Almodóvar allows us to think what we will about this evasion until the very end, and it is in any case likely to be blitzed out of the audience’s mind by the extraordinary later scenes with Martha’s grownup (and less stylish) daughter.
Moore and Swinton bring to life a friendship through believable details and a relatable back story. This film employs some heavy dramatic material but is not without moments of humour. At one point, Martha is believed to be dead by Ingrid. When Martha turns out to still be alive, she tells Ingrid that it’s good practice for when she really dies. The Room Next Door is very Almodóvarian: a dreamlike curation of people and places, it’s the work of a creative filmmaker who, once again, refuses to let conventional storytelling aspects get in the way of bringing to life the movie he set out to make.