Review of THE ROOM NEXT DOOR: Mission of Mercy

February 20, 2025

While on a book signing event, best-selling novelist Ingrid (Julianne Moore) learned some bad news about her friend Martha (Tilda Swinton), with whom she had not had contact for a long time. Ingrid visited Martha at the hospital right away and learned that she was suffering from terminal stage cervical cancer and was about to undergo some experimental treatment options. Since that first visit, Ingrid rekindled her closeness with her old friend. 

One day, Martha confessed to Ingrid that she wanted to take charge of her life and she has decided to end it. She was able to secure euthanasia pills from a shady online source. She was not afraid of death, but like the other times she faced death as a wartime journalist, she did not want to be alone.  She wanted Ingrid to keep her company in a house in the countryside which she had rented, until she felt ready to do the deed. Will Ingrid do it?

This film is the very first full-length film written and directed by Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar in the English language. It is adapted from the 2020 novel of American author Sigrid Nunez entitled "What Are You Going Through." Almodovar likes to paint vivid portraits of complex female characters in his films, and he did so again with this new one. People who have followed Almodovar's filmography will definitely feel the lack of dark comedy here.

 The topic of assisted suicide is not a topic that will go down easy with everyone, particularly audiences in Catholic countries. In fact, the film acknowledged this taboo against one character and his religion when he considered this act to be of a criminal nature. With the tender sentimentality with which this sensitive topic was broached in the film, Almodovar makes his position about this controversy clearly understood. 

Julianne Moore was believable as caring good friend Ingrid, radiating sincerity in her open-mindedness, compassion and courage.  Martha, with all her detailed stories, philosophical reflections and meticulous instructions, was a bit of a departure from the usually stoic and mysterious Tilda Swinton character in her other movies. That final casting twist for Martha's estranged daughter Michelle was terribly awkward bad idea.  7/10.