THE ROOM NEXT DOOR TRAILER 1

Pedro Almodovar makes his long-awaited English-language directorial debut with The Room Next Door. And, by the looks of it, none of his signature trademarks have been lost in translation.

Containing no dialogue, the atmospheric trailer displays multiple vignettes of Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) together in a snowy urban high-rise, and later a placid modern home in the middle of a forest. The two alternate between intimacy and hidden tortured emotion, wearing expressions of women beaten down by life and craving company.

According to the film’s synopsis, Ingrid and Martha were friends as young women working for the same magazine. They drifted apart as adults, pursuing different careers in writing. During the course of the film, they meet again in “an extreme but strangely sweet situation”.

Almodovar’s reluctance to make a film in English always felt odd to me, given the painterly atmosphere and quietness that permeates the work of his later career. He has a way of making emotional beats that transcend dialogue, and the trailer for The Room Next Door exemplifies this. Co-stars Swinton and Moore wear decades of conflict and history on their face, busting out some of the best acting of their career.

And the trailer’s decision to let these two characters simply…. exist in space rather than focus on plot hints at the film’s subject matter. Director Almodovar shines when telling the story of lost souls, as seen in his 2023 gay cowboy short film starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. He understands the chaos of life, and excels in placing a single soul within it and allowing it to breathe.

If The Room Next Door can sustain the emotion shown in this briefly atmospheric trailer, it could give the US moviegoing audience a quietly powerful story this December, and give its two lead actresses a pair of Oscars.

Directed by Pedro Almodovar, The Room Next Door  will release theatrically on December 20, 2024. The film stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in the lead roles.