‘The room next door’: Almodóvar in New York

BAS Senior Editor Robin Wallis looks at the background to, and themes of, Almodóvar’s award-winning new film, while avoiding plot spoilers.

Pedro Almodóvar’s latest feature film, The room next door (2024), is in English. 

Why?!  All his previous twenty-two features have been in Spanish.  Should we be alarmed?  Are we going to lose him from the Spanish syllabus??

Happily, there is a reasonable explanation.  The room next door is loosely based on a novel by the American author Sigrid Nunez.  Since the characters in the novel are American, Almodóvar explains, “they should be speaking English.”

This might satisfy our enquiry, were it not that his 2016 film Julieta was also based on an English-language (Canadian) text.  In that case, Almodóvar transposed the story to a Spanish setting and scripted it in Spanish. 

Since then, however, it appears that Almodóvar has found inspiration in working with certain actors who happen to be English native-speakers.  In 2020 and 2023 he made two short films scripted in English, the first of them (The human voice) starring Tilda Swinton, who now takes the lead role in The room next door. 

Close artistic collaborations have nurtured Almodóvar’s career.  Actors such as Carmen Maura, Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, as well as the off-screen talents responsible for sets, music, editing and photography have brought the best out of Almodóvar, and he of them.  His range of muses now extends beyond the Spanish-speaking world: “if I find a story for Cate [Blanchett], Tilda [Swinton] or Julianne [Moore] then I will do it, but it always depends on the story.”

English dialogue and US setting aside, The room next door is mainstream Almodóvar.  The bright colour palette, evocative musical score, strong women protagonists and exploration of relational complexities will again delight his fans.  Students of Almodóvar should have no compunction about including it in their analyses, despite the linguistic shift. 

Pedro bounces back

The past quarter of a century has seen three broad phases in Almodovar’s output.  What we might call his Golden Age, from 1999 – 2006, encompasses Todo sobre mi madre (1999) [All about my mother], Hable con ella (2002) [Talk to her]and Volver (2006) – the first two winning an Oscar, and the third nominated for one.  Their qualities stand out all the brighter alongside 2004’s less edifying La mala educación. 

Then came the less fruitful period from 2009-2013, during which Almodóvar made three films (Los abrazos rotos, La piel que habito and Los amantes pasajeros) that caused some critics to doubt his aesthetic judgement and wonder whether he was a spent force.  It has therefore been a relief that the four feature films of what we might call his directorial maturity, from 2016 to the present, have marked a renaissance for this much admired cinematographer.  The room next door sustains that positive trend: it won the main ‘Golden Lion’ award at the 2024 Venice International FIlm Festival, and will be in contention when the 2025 awards season comes around.

The room next door – themes

Most of The room next door is an interplay between two women writers, Martha and Ingrid, who resume their friendship after a gap of many years.  For Almodóvar, empathy – ‘the ability to feel close to someone’ – is the film’s major theme.  The screenplay explores the limits of friendship, and whether Ingrid is strong enough to stand by her friend Martha at a moment of crisis.

The film is also about mortality, and the subterfuge associated with achieving what Martha calls ‘a good death, with dignity – clean and dry’.  The characters have strong views on assisted dying, but Almodóvar steers clear of turning the film into a debate on the subject, which remains only a secondary theme.

A theme that runs through all of Almodóvar’s work is deseo [desire].  Not for nothing is his production company called El Deseo.  In The room next door, a flashback to a moment of deseo explains how part of the drama was set in motion.  There is also a deseo link that binds the two protagonists and their mutual friend Damian.  It is unsurprising, perhaps, that these characters voice theories about sex as an antidote to disease and the best way to fend off thoughts of death.

Gender roles surface as Martha looks back on her career as a war correspondent, regretting how she had to ‘live like a man’, and could thus ‘never be what a mother is supposed to be’ for her daughter.  The lack of a father ‘further carved out the abyss’ between her and her daughter.  The film explores the extent to which that abyss can be bridged through friendship.

Male characters are mostly tertiary.  The most positive are two gay Carmelite monks living under fire in Iraq in order to protect the vulnerable.  Others include an absurdly over-muscled gym instructor able to console but not hug his clients; a psychologically damaged war veteran; and a menacing police officer in thrall to conservative religious values.  The most prominent male is Damian, an intellectual who voices absurdly outraged theories about life, while providing vital support when needed. 

Almodóvar has spoken of the film as a study in how to ‘celebrate life in the middle of tragedy’. This comes through in various ways, including the re-affirmation of friendship; the appreciation of nature, especially birdsong; and the harmonious closing sequence.

Connections

Almodóvar’s films form a coherent whole, with recurring themes and perspectives.  This makes him an ‘auteur’ director, and thus all the more rewarding to study as each successive film adds new elements to his repertoire or develops earlier content. 

Students of Almodóvar may notice the following nods to his earlier works when watching The room next door:  If you are an Almodóvar buff, see whether you can remember which previous film(s) these ‘nods’ refer back to (answers listed at the bottom of this article):

1. The balcony of Martha’s apartment features a number of plants that she has to water, against the backdrop of the city skyline.

3. The first shots of both main protagonists are from above.

4. Mother-daughter relationship issues.

5. A spooky upstairs open/closed door.

6. Strong colour codes.

Among the external cultural references in the film:

• An hommage to Woody Allen in both the photography of New York City and the character of Damian.
• Buster Keaton silent film comedy.
• James Joyce’s The Dead.
• Edward Hopper’s painting.

Almodóvar in Spanish will return…

Reassuringly, perhaps, for his Spanish devotees (and hispanists around the globe), Almodóvar has let it be known: “I’ve already written the script for the movie after this, and it’ll be in Spanish.”

We can also let on that the rented house where much of the second half of The room next door is set is not actually in New York, but rather in the hills north-west of Madrid…

For further articles on Almodóvar, including reviews of Dolor y Gloria (2019) and Madres paralelas (2021), see https://bulletinofadvancedspanish.com/index/#topic-Film

Answers to Connections quiz:

1. The balcony of Martha’s apartment features a number of plants that she has to water, against the backdrop of the city skyline: as in Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988)

2. Silent women seated side by side, heads turned to each other: the comatose female protagonists of Hable con ella.

3. The first shot of the female protagonist is from above: Hable con ella again.

4. Mother-daughter relationship issues – Todo sobre mi madre, Volver, Madres paralelas, and perhaps most similarly in this context, Julieta.

5. The spooky upstairs open/closed door: Volver.

6. Strong colour codes: all his films! Though, unlike the films set in Spain, not in the kitchen…