La stanza accanto

Despite its serious theme (Euthanasia) the film is supremely boring, disconnected and not emotionally involving at all. I wonder how it could win the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival. The interconnected stories just don't make any sense (see the gay Carmelite friars interpolation). The character played by Turturro is flat and uninteresting. The script sounds like political propaganda and it doesn't come from the heart. Come on Pedro, you can do better than this... I'm not absolutely sure that Tilda Swinton was the best choice for this role but since The Human Voice she seems to feature in all of Almodovar's English language mpvies. There have been many films made on euthanasia (such as Amenabar's "Mar Adentro") that are certainly better worthy of notice than this frankly mediocre sample.

Seeing an Almodovar movie in English is a bit weird. This is such a quintessential Spanish director, that the lack of Spanish (apart from one short sentence) seems to take away an essential element from the movie. But even in English, Almodovar stays Almodovar, just like Woody Allen stayed Woody Allen in his French film.

I think this is one of the best movies he has made. It's beautiful, it's touching, it's meaningful. Not many films combine those three qualities. It seems as if with every new movie he directs, he gets closer to the purest film making. In this case, it's a story about two friends who both have to come to grips with death. Martha is dying of cancer and wants euthanasia, Ingrid is an old friend who is afraid of death but nevertheless agrees to accompany Martha in her last days.

This sounds as if the film is very depressing. Let me assure you: it is not. Far from it. There are far more happy moments than sad ones. Even Martha embraces life in her last moments, because she wants to spend them in a stunningly luxurious villa in the woods.

Almodovar once again creates a world of beauty, full of colour and aesthetics. His sets are, as usual, carefully designed. But this is also a very moving film, showing how valuable good friendships can be and how, even in death, dignity and respect are essential values.

Almodovar includes many references in his film. Martha and Ingrid watch movies by Buster Keaton and John Huston, and they go to a cinema where a Rosselini movie is playing. But the most obvious influence, I think, is Ingmar Bergman. Not only is the story reminiscent of Bergman's Persona, but the whole movie has a Bergman-esque feeling. Just like many Bergman movies, it relies heavily on dialogue, tackles themes like death and religion, and has a limited number of characters. The difference: Almodovar adds some Spanish warmth and colour.

There are more happy moments than sad moments in this film despite its main theme being death & how we cope or don't cope with it.

I haven't watched a lot of Almodovar but I was interested to see his first English film especially with Julianne Moore & Tilda Swinton in it.

Other reviews say that it's nothing new from the director. Having not seen many of his films I can't confirm that. I do admire how he can take something we struggle to talk about and bring colour & happiness to it.

There seems to also be a consensus that more could've been done with the characters considering the quality of actors available to Pedro Almodovar. I don't know about that, I think less is more.

Enough of the characters backstory is expressed to tell the story. Why do more?

It's hardly imaginable that there has been a more stylish, more elegant and more sophisticated movie about death before this latest achievement from Pedro Almodovar.

The set design, choice of colors and costumes makes this an almost too extravagant aesthetic pleasure to watch.

My problem is that the movie never finds the depth, which should be required in dealing with such a serious and profound topic. Should one have the freedom and autonomy to decide for oneself whether it's time to put an end to your life or not?

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore do their very best in focusing on this question, characterizing a close friendship facing its very last and most complex challenge of all.

But the long dialogues felt wooden and too formulaic for my taste. I was stunned by the visual richness of the movie, but it never touched me emotionally, something I'd have expected from a great director like Almodovar.

It's really sad that this great theme and these great actors were used to make this mediocre, banal and almost demented movie.

The story is good, though I'm guessing the original book does it a better service, but the writing and directing of the dialogue is so bad I first thought it was ironic. Sadly it wasn't. The actors save what can be salvaged with really good performances, but every time they talk you find yourself waiting for them to stop. And most of the movie is dialogue.

There are beautiful shots and great lighting, and a lot of colours borrowed from Edward Hopper, to which the characters even point to not so subtly.

I'm really sad this movie wasn't better.