A review of the new film “The Room Next Door”
An internationally acclaimed director: the Spanish Pedro Almodovar making his first English-language film in his distinguished canon of 23 movies and one where he is writer as well as director. Two very talented actresses: Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore who are rarely off the scene in what is effectively an impressive two-hander. A serious social issue: the benefits and risks of assisted dying. An award winner: the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
This is a film that promises much and largely delivers. Both the characters played by Swinton and Moore are writers and we are invited to consider to what extent we should be allowed to write our own narrative. There are many literary allusions in this richly-textured work, most notably to “The Dead” by James Joyce, but this is a story about active listening as well as active dying.
Thematically, this stylish work – sound and colour are both engaging – recalls a more emotional film of four decades ago: the 1982 “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” This is a question that we have still not answered but, at the time of writing, is being debated in the British Parliament. “The Room Next Door” takes a particular position and puts its case with calmness and sensitivity.
However, Almodovar’s dialogue occasionally feels a little clunky and some might find it too much of an art house movie, somewhat removed from everyday life: a slow exposition of the issues facing a cultured and economically-comfortable pair of empowered women.