Venice 2024: The Room Next Door
VENICE
Two friends meet after decades apart, having lost touch when their professional paths diverged: Ingrid (Julianne Moore) moved on from writing for a magazine to being a successful autofiction writer, while Martha (Tilda Swinton) became a war reporter. Chance – or perhaps destiny – reunites them with an opportunity for their relationship to bloom again in unusual and extreme circumstances.
For his first feature film in English, Pedro Almodóvar places the relationship between Ingrid and Martha front and centre, focusing almost exclusively on their interactions and conversations as they navigate a difficult situation and find themselves having to make tough choices. The result is a quiet and unassuming film centred around sisterhood that gently accompanies viewers towards its inevitable conclusion with a grace and gentleness that are rarely found elsewhere.
The impeccable performances by Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton undoubtedly carry the film, their characters perfectly defined with a few broad strokes, each interaction exuding care and affection. Even though the dialogues are, at times, slightly too convoluted, the talent of the two leads is such that this can easily go unnoticed, every fault forgiven and obliterated by the intensity of their emotions.
The themes are inherently political and, though it is acknowledged, this aspect never overpowers the narrative, all the while looming over the characters in the background. The contrast between the outside world and the sharply coloured interiors allows the creation of a space of resistance where the sweet, tender relationship between the two women is allowed to coexist with the heartbreak and suffering, creating pockets of humour and finding new ways to live in and with tragedy (to paraphrase one of the characters).
Grappling with the meaning of life and death, and who should have the final say in choosing how and when to leave this earth, cuts right through the experience of being human, so it would be unfair to expect a film to provide a definitive answer. Yet, The Room Next Door offers an alternative reading: perhaps it is not the answer itself that matters, but the fact that someone is willing to walk that same path side by side, sharing both the joy and the pain and, when needed, can be found in the room next door.