Film Review: THE ROOM NEXT DOOR: Pedro Almodóvar Delivers a Powerhouse Drama with Stellar Performances [NYFF 2024]

The Room Next Door Review

The Room Next Door (2024) Film Review from the 62nd Annual New York Film Festival, a movie directed by Pedro Almodóvar, written by Sigrid Nunez and Pedro Almodóvar and starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Alex Høgh Andersen, Alessandro Nivola, Melina Matthews, Juan Diego Botto, Esther McGregor, Victoria Luengo, Raúl Arévalo, Sarah Demeestere and Anton Antoniadis.

Legendary filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar has crafted one of the most ambitious and courageous dramas of 2024, The Room Next Door. Almodóvar’s first English language feature is commandeered by two phenomenal performances full of emotional range and depth. Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton should be Oscar-nomination bound with their layered and powerful work in this new picture. Any movie that employs James Joyce’s short story, The Dead (and the film version of it from John Huston), as a reference point is surely daring enough but Almodóvar’s command of the story he chooses to tell in The Room Next Door is nothing short of masterful. This is one of the year’s very best films.

The fabulous Swinton portrays a war journalist named Martha who reunites with her old writer friend, Ingrid (the incomparable Moore). Soon, Martha has a proposition for Ingrid that involves helping Martha take her own life at a hideaway house. Martha initially reveals that she has been diagnosed with cancer although there could be the possibility of successful experimental treatment. Still, Martha has asked at least one other friend to help her by going along with her to the house in which she has chosen to end her life. But, it is Ingrid who feels the desire to help her old friend. Martha would like to die through a euthanasia pill which was obtained from the dark web. Although Ingrid has doubts about helping Martha, she eventually agrees with Martha’s plan.

Moore and Swinton as Ingrid and Martha have a great on-screen rapport. These characters bond at Alice Tully Hall on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and then watch a silent movie together and, of course, look at Huston’s terrific version of The Dead. There’s a scene where Martha reveals she wants to read a book but it’s a rather long one and she doesn’t believe she will have the time to make it through.

Meanwhile, Ingrid goes to a local physical enhancement class where the trainer is not allowed to touch her. Moore’s character appears to be at a crossroads in her life and re-establishing the bond with Martha makes for some truly great dialogue about Martha’s personal and professional past. We learn how Martha became pregnant and the depths of her admiration for her career although she has a war which she has covered which is, hands down, her favorite.

John Turturro is his usual reliable self as Damian Cunningham, a friend of Ingrid’s with whom she has forged a deep bond. Damian learns of Martha’s intention to take her own life and suggests that Ingrid have a lawyer on hand in case things are interpreted wrong by the police regarding the particular situation at hand. Turturro gets a great scene or two within the picture, one in which he talks about his desire for sex as a younger man. Turturro and Moore are two screen veterans whose character interactions on-screen are, in two words, earnestly brilliant.

Though Swinton takes the early scenes and runs with them, commanding the respect of the audience in the interim, it is Moore whose performance dominates in the latter sequences. It doesn’t matter whose performance is better, however. It’s like comparing two types of fine wines that both taste equally exquisite. Swinton embodies regret and the desire for closure in life in the performance of her role. Moore captures the admiration that Ingrid has for Martha. As the two characters’ bond strengthens, so does the fact that the plot is heading towards a resolution that will be painful for both of the women at hand.

The Room Next Door is nothing short of perfect. It’s one of the director’s very best works. The performances are the reason why. Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton bring to life a friendship that is created through believable details and a relatable back story. Watching them work together is an emotional and wonderful experience. This film employs some heavy dramatic material but is not without moments of humor. 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.

If there’s one particular scene that truly makes The Room Next Door a masterpiece, it’s the one where our two ladies sit beside one another and Martha is dressed in a colorful, wildly unique sweater. It is an inspired choice because it shows the way Martha refuses to allow even the possibility of her death to get in the way of her embracing every moment of her life and reveling in her creativity which remains intact even as her physical well-being has been defeated in a way.

The Room Next Door is a film like no other. 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. Creativity is everything in storytelling and the fact that Almodóvar creates an unforgettable friendship between two similar, yet different, women is a testament to his versatility and diversity as an artist. This is a great picture.

Rating: 10/10

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