Pedro Almodóvar has made some of the best Spanish-language movies of all time – ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, TALK TO HER, and most recently, PARALLEL MOTHERS. Sadly, his first foray into an English-language film is not his best work, and it falls flat.
Certain movies get critical praise, while their audience scores are the opposite. In 2024, this happened with I SAW THE TV GLOW, IN A VIOLENT NATURE, LONGLEGS, CHALLENGERS, and more. I predict audiences will tear it apart once THE ROOM NEXT DOOR hits theatres later this December.
For me, soap operas work better when the actors speak Spanish (see my favorite Apple TV+ comedy series – ACAPULCO). In THE ROOM NEXT DOOR, Almodóvar works with two of the best lead actors of their generation, Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Each performer is given awful dialogue, and their delivery is extremely stilted. Almodóvar’s films are about identity, parenthood, and the human experience. Those themes need well-written dialogue and performances to work on the screen. My hunch is that Almodóvar (who sometimes uses a translator at press events) had a challenge with the English language’s emotional complexities, making Moore and Swinton’s performances feel almost wooden.
THE ROOM NEXT DOOR tries to be a profoundly moving story about death. However, it is one of the year’s most disappointing films, and audiences will wish it had died before it was made.
It’s available in theaters on December 20th, 2024.
