Kõrvaltuba
Almodóvar’s Golden Lion winner is his English-language debut with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore.
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.
If you wanted to give an example of the auteur film as Late Period Contemplation, there would be few better examples than Pedro Almodóvar’s Venice Golden Lion winner “The Room Next Door”. The Man from La Mancha has, in recent work, mused amply on mortality, memory and regret, notably in “Julieta” and “Pain And Glory” – and his new feature has striking parallels with those, thematically and formally. But, for a story which ponders on late-life exhaustion and loss of curiosity and pleasure, “The Room Next Door” strikes a defiant blow against ennui, staking out new territory for the director.
Jonathan Romney, Screen International
Pedro Almodóvar (1949) is one of the most internationally successful Spanish filmmakers known for colourful melodramatic films. Born in La Mancha, he moved to Madrid at the age of 17 to study cinema and direct films. In 1980, “Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown” brought him international recognition. “Todo sobre mi madre” (1999) won him his first Oscar and many other awards around the world. “Hable Con Ella” (2002) won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. “La mala educación” (2004) opened the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. In 2006 he presented “Volver” in Cannes, where it won two awards. In 2021, the drama “Parallel Mothers” premiered in Venice and received two Oscar nominations. All these films were also screened at PÖFF in their respective years.
Matador (1986), Carne trémula (1997, Elav liha, PÖFF 1998), Todo sobre mi madre (Kõik minu emast, PÖFF 1999), Hable con ella (Räägi temaga, PÖFF 2002), La mala educación (Halb kasvatus, 2004), Volver (2006), La piel que habito (Nahk, milles ma elan, 2011), Dolor y gloria (Valu ja hiilgus, 2019), Madres paralelas (Paralleelemad, PÖFF 2021), The Room Next Door (2024)