#review: Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore unite in The Room Next Door
Jan 31, 2025
David Ho pops into The Room Next Door to review Pedro Almodóvar's first English-language feature film
“There are lots of ways to live inside a tragedy,” declares Julianne Moore as her character Ingrid in The Room Next Door.
The Pedro Almodóvar written and directed film sets off to explore one of the myriad of ways one can do just that. It follows the journey of two friends reunited as one of them, Martha (played by Tilda Swinton), decides to face death on her own terms upon finding out her cancer diagnosis is terminal and that her treatments have failed. Martha’s final wish is that she be accompanied in her final days before she offs herself.
The premise provides fertile grounds for a thoughtful meditation on life and death. Expectations are understandably high with two Oscar winners as co-leads, a stylish sapphic-tinged marketing campaign, an acclaimed filmmaker at the helm of his first fully English offering, and awards buzz already.
Swinton and Moore do their best with the script, with dialogue that might work better in a theatrical production, but feels a bit stilted in film. Nonetheless, the duo’s banter quickly colour in their characters and swiftly spirits them from reunification to a lavish staycation in the countryside where Martha wants to spend her final days.
Yet somehow, the characters don’t feel fully fleshed out. We learn Ingrid has a fear of death, which is even outlined in her latest bestselling book for some reason, but its roots are never really explored. Similarly, Martha’s dry assessment of her adventures as a war correspondent and her failings as a mother do little to endear her to the audience. Perhaps some gaps might be better filled out if one had read the 2020 novel What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez, which The Room Next Door is adapted from. But it shouldn't be a requirement if the film was strong enough.
The cinematography is gorgeous, with many scenes looking like they came straight out of paintings. But a beautifully manicured collection of shots alone does not make for a great movie. The project provides ample grounds for Almodóvar and co to say something profound, be it on family, euthanasia, or life. The film comes across lots of interesting threads, but never really tugs at any of them for long enough to unravel any truly interesting nuggets.
Constant references to James Joyce’s story The Dead (and its movie) are meant to evoke the same contemplation on life and death for the characters too. But it feels shoehorned in to act as stage cues for snowy scenes, coming across as insipid rather than inspired.
The film is shouldered by Swinton and Moore’s performances. The film works best when they are allowed to emotionally ping pong with each other over the film’s ultimate quest and we see the women’s compassionate friendship shine. Frequent flashbacks and supporting characters provide tonal changes that ultimately feel inconsequential to the proceedings, other than colouring in Martha’s past. One can argue that at the end of one’s road, that’s what many of the happenings in our life are - a hodgepodge of events and faces passing through. But to see it on film like this feels... underwhelming.
Almodóvar has plenty he could have done and said with The Room Next Door. But sadly, the final results end up as tepid and lifeless as one of its protagonist's fate.
Verdict: The combination of Swinton and Moore in an Almodóvar film sounds amazing on paper and had so much potential. But sadly, this tedious clunker is a skip for us.
