Madrid, Oct 16 (EFE).- Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar will premiere his new film next Friday, ‘The Room Next Door‘, in which he talks about pain, illness and death, but also the importance of « celebrate the little things in life” no matter how “lousy” the current moment is.
In an interview with EFE on the occasion of the presentation of his latest work in Madrid, the filmmaker acknowledges that he is aware of the “screaming” that has engulfed the social climate in Spain and in much of the planet, as well as the risks which is why a film like the one he just shot entails.
Because the film, based on the novel ‘What Are You Going Through’, by the American Sigrid Nunez, tells how Martha (Tilda Swinton), a former war reporter, decides to die after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. She asks her old friend Ingrid (Julianne Moore), whom she reunites with years later, to accompany her.
During this journey, both characters will experience profound catharsis while, as part of the plot, current issues occur, such as the rise of the extreme right, neoliberalism, climate change or renewed fanaticism.
Almodóvar claims ‘The Room Next Door’, Golden Lion at the last Venice festival, as a closed defense of listening to the other. «It is a commitment to empathy, solidarity and help; that of a friend, that of someone you love, that of a family member, because being next to each other at certain moments can be the most important thing.
He deplores, therefore, that political and social discourses speak of places of exclusion, and cites as examples Italy’s immigration policy or the possible opening of deportation centers outside the European Union.
The journey of those who accompany
The director of films like ‘All About My Mother’ or ‘Volver’ highlights Ingrid’s inner journey. A “painful” trip because “she doesn’t want to be the first person to see her dead friend.”
However, in the words of Almodóvar, “he learns with Martha to celebrate the little things in life because his friend simply enjoys them.”
«We live – he adds – in a terrible time, many conflicts and unknowns, and we do not know what will happen to our planet in ten years (…), but we can find a way to celebrate every day. I remember that Almudena Grandes (deceased Spanish writer) dedicated one of her novels to me and said: ‘Pedro, don’t forget that joy is one of the best forms of resistance.'”
“The right to die”
Almodóvar admits in the conversation with EFE that “a part of Spain will not agree” with ‘The Room Next Door’ because he considers “that God is the only one who can give life and take it.”
For this reason, he asks them to “respect a person” like him, who defends the right to decide death when life only offers pain, infinite and eternal pain.
As he explains, the film “poses something that is officially resolved in Spain” (allusion to the euthanasia law approved in 2021), but that, due to “polarization”, can generate currents of opinion that clash.
The vision of two world film stars
The British Swinton and the American Moore accompanied Almodóvar this Wednesday in Madrid to present a film shot in English, set in New York and its surroundings and filled with universal themes: pain, death… And life.
Tilda Swinton advocated “a humane approach to the right to life” because, as she points out, “death is not the important part, but living your own life.” At his side, Moore nodded and defended that “the most important thing is freedom: the freedom of who to love or how to have control” over the body.
Both discussed the filming of ‘The Room Next Door’ with a smile: they have become very good friends.
Moore affirms that her character is still with her months later and that it even helps her cope with overcoming “hard moments in life.” “As an actress it is wonderful to see that you admire parts of a character… From Ingrid I have learned her ability to be better,” she said.
For his part, Swinton pointed out that “it was a blessing” that Almódovar gave him that opportunity and to be able to delve into Martha’s biography from his impulses.
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