O Quarto ao Lado

It's hardly imaginable that there has been a more stylish, more elegant and more sophisticated movie about death before this latest achievement from Pedro Almodovar.

The set design, choice of colors and costumes makes this an almost too extravagant aesthetic pleasure to watch.

My problem is that the movie never finds the depth, which should be required in dealing with such a serious and profound topic. Should one have the freedom and autonomy to decide for oneself whether it's time to put an end to your life or not?

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore do their very best in focusing on this question, characterizing a close friendship facing its very last and most complex challenge of all.

But the long dialogues felt wooden and too formulaic for my taste. I was stunned by the visual richness of the movie, but it never touched me emotionally, something I'd have expected from a great director like Almodovar.

It's really sad that this great theme and these great actors were used to make this mediocre, banal and almost demented movie.

The story is good, though I'm guessing the original book does it a better service, but the writing and directing of the dialogue is so bad I first thought it was ironic. Sadly it wasn't. The actors save what can be salvaged with really good performances, but every time they talk you find yourself waiting for them to stop. And most of the movie is dialogue.

There are beautiful shots and great lighting, and a lot of colours borrowed from Edward Hopper, to which the characters even point to not so subtly.

I'm really sad this movie wasn't better.

Despite its serious theme (Euthanasia) the film is supremely boring, disconnected and not emotionally involving at all. I wonder how it could win the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival. The interconnected stories just don't make any sense (see the gay Carmelite friars interpolation). The character played by Turturro is flat and uninteresting. The script sounds like political propaganda and it doesn't come from the heart. Come on Pedro, you can do better than this... I'm not absolutely sure that Tilda Swinton was the best choice for this role but since The Human Voice she seems to feature in all of Almodovar's English language mpvies. There have been many films made on euthanasia (such as Amenabar's "Mar Adentro") that are certainly better worthy of notice than this frankly mediocre sample.

I had high hopes for this movie because of the cast. However, the movie disappointed me. While watching it, I got the feeling that when making the movie, it was thought that good actors and a theme of death were enough to make a great movie. Nothing else happens and the whole movie could have fit perfectly into 30 minutes. And this is not a case where the action takes place slowly and deeply until it reaches the main idea or climax. In this case, the film went along a rather boring path without any deviations, as a result of which even the tears of the actors did not move me at all. Pretty bland and lacked depth.

The Room Next Door feels like Pedro Almodóvar stepping into uncharted territory. It's his first English-language film, and while it's undeniably beautiful, it left me wishing for a bit more substance beneath the surface. The story focuses on Martha, a war photographer facing terminal cancer, and Ingrid, a novelist whose friendship with Martha has grown distant. Almodóvar brings his signature style-bold colors, symbolic spaces, and carefully crafted visuals-but somehow, the emotional depth he's known for doesn't quite land.

Color plays a huge role here, especially red. Almodóvar uses it as a recurring theme-it's in Martha's outfits, Ingrid's scattered notes, and the carefully chosen decor of the house where most of the story unfolds. Normally, his use of red bursts with life and passion (Volver, anyone?), but here it feels muted. Instead of adding emotional weight to Martha's struggles with agency and mortality, it seems more decorative than symbolic, like it's there to remind us we're watching an Almodóvar film but not much else.

The house, though, is stunning. It's this sleek, modernist marvel of icy blues and greys, with pops of red, yellow, and green breaking through the sterile perfection. It's a powerful metaphor for Martha and Ingrid's fragile connection-a place that feels both protective and isolating. But as much as I loved how the house looked, I kept waiting for it to feel like a real part of the story. It's a backdrop with so much potential, but its symbolism doesn't dig deep enough to make the emotional stakes feel real.

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore are, unsurprisingly, excellent. Swinton gives Martha a quiet fierceness, and Moore portrays Ingrid with a mix of regret and tenderness. But the dialogue between them sometimes falls flat-it's too heavy on exposition and not raw enough to pull you in. Their interactions often feel more like scripted exchanges than heartfelt conversations, which makes it harder to connect with their journey.

Ultimately, The Room Next Door is a feast for the eyes, but its heart doesn't quite match its visual brilliance. It's beautiful, yes, but it feels like it's searching for the emotional depth that made Almodóvar's earlier films so unforgettable. I respect the ambition, but as the credits rolled, I couldn't help but miss the vibrant storytelling of his past works.