Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature film is the equivalent of buying a knock-off designer bag that’s just about convincing – it’s more or less the same, but stare at it a bit too long and you’ll notice it says Prado or Cucci on the label.
The Room Next Door is, on paper, classic Almodóvar. Arresting pops of colour. Some end-of-the-world dread. Incredibly beautiful actors in immaculate wardrobes – in this case, the fierce twosome of Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. But despite such promise, the film is also didactic, strained and unsure of itself. After the pleasant shrug of his 2023 English-language short Strange Way of Life, it also furthers the feeling that the sensual master of Spanish filmmaking can’t help but lose something when venturing outside his native tongue.
