Content Advisory: Suicide
Movie Info
A woman receives a grave request from her cancer-diagnosed friend in The Room Next Door. Ingrid (Julianne Moore) is an autofiction novelist, who discovers that her old friend Martha (Tilda Swinton) has been diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer. The two were close in their youth when they worked at the same magazine, but grew apart over the years, with Martha becoming a war photographer.
Ingrid visits Martha in the hospital, where they reminisce and Martha laments about the estranged relationship she has with her daughter Michelle (also, Swinton). Martha has no intensions to needlessly suffer during cancer treatment and would rather die on her own terms. As such, Martha makes a request of Ingrid with dire moral consequences.
The Room Next Door Synopsis
The Room Next Door is the debut, English-language film from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, coming off the heels of his English-language shorts, 2020’s The Human Voice and 2023’s Strange Way of Life. The film stars Julianne Moore (May December) and Tilda Swinton (The End) as old friends Ingrid and Martha. After many years apart, Ingrid finds herself reunited with Martha, after discovering that the latter has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Martha doesn’t want to allow herself to build false hope through her cancer treatment, and would father go on her own terms. This results in her inviting Ingrid to accompany her to a remote cabin and be in the room next door when Martha takes her own life. This proposition frightens Ingrid, who has an immense fear of death, and she ends up confiding in mutual friend and lover Damian (John Turturro) about what steps to take.
My Thoughts on The Room Next Door
After a five decade career as one of the most acclaimed Spanish filmmakers, Pedro Almodóvar finally makes the jump into English with The Room Next Door. The film is a very dialog-heavy drama, with the bulk of the screen time spent on stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, the latter returning after starring in Almodóvar’s debut English-language short film The Human Voice. The plot of The Room Next Door almost plays out like a play as the two old friends Ingrid and Martha deal with the latter’s final decision involving her cancer fight.
One of the main themes of The Room Next Door involves the stigma surrounding cancer treatment and how accepting your imminent death can be seen as being defeatist. Indeed, Martha plans to “get her before the cancer does” by acquiring a euthanasia pill off of the dark web. However, she would prefer that Ingrid, who just wrote a book about her fear of death, be close by when Martha does decide to take her life.
Much of the plot of The Room Next Door involves Ingrid coming to terms with Martha’s decision, while also preparing herself for any legal ramifications. In fact, it is almost of the sole purpose of John Turturro’s Damian to be a person for Ingrid to confide in. As such, it is almost unnecessary to establish the backstory that Damian has been a lover to both Martha and Ingrid.
The Room Next Door also has a subplot involving the estrangement Martha has with her daughter Michelle. This includes flashbacks showing how a much younger Martha (Esther McGregor) was impregnated by Michelle’s father Fred (Alex Høgh Andersen), who would later die after running into a burning house. This subplot takes a backseat for much of the film until Michelle, played by Tilda Swinton in a brown wig, shows up towards the end of the film.
Altogether, The Room Next Door is a perfectly fine character drama. However, when viewed in the scope of Pedro Almodóvar’s career, it is possibly a lesser film from the auteur. That said, this shouldn’t stop him from continuing to make English-language films, as Almodóvar has probably said all that he can in Spanish.
Trailer for The Room Next Door
