It's kind of poetic that The Room Next Door, a movie about assisted dying, is actually the most luminous and hopeful movie of the year.
That's a testament to Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton's stunning performances, as well as Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar's beautiful exploration of friendship and the ways in which we make peace with the inevitable – not only death, but also the future.
It's Almodóvar's first feature film in the English language following his recent experience with short films The Human Voice (also starring Swinton) and Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke's cowboy romance Strange Way of Life.
With this new movie, adapted from Sigrid Nunez's novel What Are You Going Through, the director of Spanish masterpieces like All About My Mother and Volver doesn't get lost in translation.
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The Room Next Door follows Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton), two old friends who rekindle their relationship during a difficult time.
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Martha is in hospital, being treated for cervical cancer. When Ingrid finds out about her situation, she visits her and quickly becomes her most loyal companion and friend many years after they first met as journalists in 1980s New York.
When an experimental treatment fails to deliver results, Martha decides she doesn't want to prolong her suffering. She is ready to go. In fact, as she confesses, she was ready to die before all the treatments started, but was convinced to fight a little bit longer. Now, she is undeterred, having secured a euthanasia pill "on the dark web".
However, Martha doesn't want to be alone in her last weeks, so she asks Ingrid to be "in the room next door" when it happens. Albeit reluctantly, since she just wrote a book about how much she fears death, Ingrid accepts.
As they move into an isolated rental home, the two friends share heartfelt conversations bathing in the sun on the outside loungers, emotional movie nights with John Huston's The Dead, and slow walks around the forest waiting for Martha to feel ready.
A less interesting film would try to turn Ingrid's fear of death into a conflict point between the two women – but instead, her journey is filled with vulnerability, respect and love for her friend.
Tilda Swinton might brilliantly take the difficult role of a sick woman making peace with death, but it's Julianne Moore's take on the reluctant but brave bystander that really stands out. Her performance is flawless, with her teary eyes speaking multitudes.
The Room Next Door, which won the Golden Lion at this year's Venice Film Festival, is a work of beauty – but it's fiercely political too.
By including the legal repercussions of assisted suicide and assisted dying in the US, Almodóvar offers a political layer to the movie and evidences the flaws of a cruel system.
Why should it be illegal to die with dignity, to go on one's own terms, he asks, when faced by the loss of one's identity and autonomy? The story stokes the flames of a much-needed debate around euthanasia.
In his last few films, from Pain and Glory to Parallel Mothers, Almodóvar's vision has been particularly filled with nostalgia for the past and worry about the future.
This has been reflected in his distinct visual style too. His aesthetic of striking primary colours and camp humour feels refined, every visual and narrative decision brilliantly made to feed the story.
Some non-Spanish critics have blamed the stiffness of some dialogues on the fact that English is not Almodóvar's first language, which feels like a misunderstanding by those unfamiliar with the way his Spanish-spoken works are worded and performed.
This movie is not meant to represent reality as we know it, but it's actually pure Almodovarian melodrama, a unique world of poetic-to-a-fault dialogues, multidisciplinary artistic expression and quietly raging politics.
It's a poem to be felt and an art piece to stare at, a movie concocted with an artistic precision that allows it to build upon its layers of significance and extract its deep-rooted emotion. And there, at its centre, there's a hopeful message about the future.
While John Turturro's supporting character represents a cynicism deeply ingrained in our society today, The Room Next Door seems to fiercely argue against his pessimistic views on the future.
Almodóvar wants to find dignity for the living and for the dead.
The Room Next Door is out now in UK cinemas.
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
