Movie Review: ‘The Room Next Door’

The English-language debut from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is a disappointingly staid affair that can’t find life in its story of death and friendship.

(L to R) Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in 'The Room Next Door'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

‘The Room Next Door’ receives 5.5 out of 10 stars.

Opening in wide release in theaters on January 18th, ‘The Room Next Door’ represents something that would ordinarily be cause for celebration among cineastes –– it marks the English-language debut of accomplished and rightly celebrated writer/director Pedro Almodóvar working in the sort of low-key yet meaning-packed drama genre he has shone in in the past.

And it also feature another key element of the filmmaker’s career –– superb female actors in the lead roles. The problem is that with this latest effort, the switch to entirely English has somehow resulted in the life of the piece getting lost in translation.

Does ‘The Room Next Door’ house quality filmmaking?

(L to R) Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in 'The Room Next Door'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Perhaps the biggest issue with ‘The Room Next Door’ is quite how stilted and staid it all feels. While you don’t necessarily look to Almodóvar for genre-smashing fireworks, you might hope for some real level of passion, and that simply doesn’t really come through here.

While the cast acquits themselves adequately, the dialogue they have to deliver sounds more like something out of a film school effort, with labored exposition in the early going (pity poor Tilda Swinton having to explain how she worked late nights and didn’t get to see much of her daughter to the very woman who worked the long shifts with her all those years ago), or Julianne Moore doing her best to breathe life into a sequence where the two women look around a rented house deciding which room to each take.

The film is full of moments that feel like they were excised from other, better dramas and though the main pair are still at the top of their game, nothing in the script is worthy of their talents.

Script and Direction

Director Pedro Almodóvar in 'The Room Next Door'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Almodóvar is here adapting Sigrid Nunez’ novel ‘What Are You Going Through’ and you do rather wonder whether the novel had deeper layers that Almodóvar somehow didn’t manage to transfer into his screenplay.

While the early portions feature Moore’s Ingrid and Swinton’s Martha reminiscing about old times, the disjointed nature of Martha’s recollections in particular make the movie tough going. The story jumps around in time, but with little consequence or real impact, and editor Teresa Font doesn’t do too much to help, sequences ending abruptly or feeling choppy.

Visually, the film has more to recommend it as Almodóvar floods the screen with color and keeps the locales beautiful –– it’s just a shame that the actual filmmaking is so timid and staid, cutting from one average, locked-down shot to another, and rarely finding much in the way of natural rhythm.

‘The Room Next Door’: performances

Beyond Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and later arrival John Turturro, there’s little to recommend on the performance front.

Julianne Moore as Ingrid

Julianne Moore in 'The Room Next Door'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

A reporter-turned-novelist, Ingrid is our focal point, but despite Moore giving her some spirit, she’s honestly so bland and first base that it’s hard to argue she’s worth spending time with. Her exchanges with Swinton’s characters only ever work because of the two performers’ consummate skill.

Tilda Swinton as Martha

Tilda Swinton in 'The Room Next Door'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Swinton has more to play given that her character, who spent years reporting on conflicts, now finds herself at war with cancer. There are layers and depth to Martha and Swinton naturally finds them all, keeping her composure when necessary but hinting at darker depths.

Yet, like Moore, she struggles to do much with the first-base scripting.

John Turturro as Damian

(L to R) Julianne Moore and John Turturro in 'The Room Next Door'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Memorably talked about before he ever arrives on screen (since he’s someone both women slept with and recall as an enthusiastic lover), Turturro’s Damian is possibly the only supporting cast member who really makes much of an impact.

He fully commits to his quirky yet quiet character and his scenes are watchable.

Alessandro Nivola as Policeman

Alessandro Nivola in 'The Brutalist'. Photo: A24.

Honestly, the less said about Nivola’s character the better, since he’s more of a stereotype than an actual functioning human being. A police officer who interrogates Ingrid over the circumstances of Martha’s self-administered euthanasia, he’s in one scene and comes across as a plot point –– a religious fanatic who has serious issues with what Martha has done and is threatening Ingrid with punishment for her part in supporting her friend.

Between this and ‘Kraven the Hunter,’ Nivola isn’t having a great time of it lately, though he can thank a great performance in ‘The Brutalist’ for helping keep his cine-ledger balanced between disappointment and success.

Final Thoughts

(L to R) Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in 'The Room Next Door'. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.

If this is what happens when the great Pedro Almodóvar switches to working entirely in English, he might be better served sticking to Spanish-language movies. He has nothing to prove given his hefty past of successful movies and full awards cabinet, but this feels like a stumble.

If a movie with two of the best actors around and the seemingly compelling twin subjects of friendship and assisted suicide can’t bring the drama, you know something is very wrong.

The Room Next Door

PG-131 hr 47 minJan 17th, 2025

Showtimes & Tickets

Ingrid and Martha were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha... Read the Plot

What is the plot of ‘The Room Next Door’?

Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.