Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘The Room Next Door’ Enthralls Venice Premiere Audience

Midway through the 2024 Venice Film Festival, the audience at the Sala Grande seemed to have discovered a new favorite film in competition.

“The Room Next Door,” Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s first feature film in English, thrilled attendees at its September 2 world premiere at La Biennale. The crowd continued to clap and cheer for stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore long after the film credits stopped rolling. The filmmakers and cast graciously accepted the praise, with Almodóvar even pausing to sign autographs as his cast prepared to depart. This enthusiastic response was notably striking given the film’s sensitive subject matter: euthanasia.

The upcoming Sony Pictures Classics release is an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel “What Are You Going Through.” The film also stars John Turturro and Alessandro Nivola. In this emotionally intense narrative, Moore portrays Ingrid, a bestselling author who reconnects with her old friend, a war journalist named Martha, played by Swinton, after learning that she has cancer. As their friendship evolves amidst Martha’s declining health, Martha becomes comfortable enough to include Ingrid in a plan to take a pill that would end her life.

During the press conference for “The Room Next Door” earlier in the day, the topic of euthanasia dominated the discussion. Tilda Swinton, who plays Martha, shared her personal views on the matter. She revealed, “I personally am not frightened of death, nor have I ever been. I think the whole journey toward accepting death can be long for some people, but for some reason, because of certain experiences in my life, I became aware early. I know it’s coming. I feel it coming, I see it coming,” according to a report from Variety. Swinton further added, “One of the things that this film is a portrait of is self-determination, someone who decides absolutely to take her life and her living and her dying into her own hands.”

Yet, some voices at the press conference emphasized that the plot of Almodóvar’s new film holds more than just the euthanasia storyline. “We very rarely see a story about female friendship, and especially female friends who are older. I don’t know that there’s another filmmaker in the world who would do that other than Pedro,” said Julianne Moore. “The importance that he shows us is so unusual. It was so moving to me that he portrayed this relationship as so profound because it is.”

Source: Variety