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What do you get when you take two of the most talented actresses in the world and put them in a film written and directed by the most stylish, provocative Spanish filmmaker?

The answer is The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar's English-language feature debut. It stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore and it is guaranteed to be a must-see at the cinema this autumn.

The film co-stars John Turturro and Alessandro Nivola and is Almodóvar's first to be shot in the US, taking place in New England "at a house built on a natural reserve".

It's based on the novel What Are You Going Through, by Sigrid Nunez, and Moore plays Ingrid, an autofiction novelist who is close friends with Martha (Swinton), a war correspondent. Life has pulled the women apart but they reunite in strange, extreme circumstances.

This is the second time Almodóvar has worked with Swinton, following a collaboration on his first English-language short film, The Human Voice, in 2020, where she played a woman waiting for her ex-husband to pick up his suitcases after their separation.

In 2023, Almodóvar made a second English- language short film called Strange Way Of Life, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as a pair of gunslinging lovers who reunite after years of separation.

Almodóvar is best known for his signature brand of elegant melodrama, having achieved global recognition for his 1988 black comedy Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He would go on to win the Oscar 11 years later for All About My Mother, and in 2003 he won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his psychological drama Talk To Her, which is about two men who form a friendship while caring for two women in comas.

Already an icon within his native Spain, Almodóvar has become an internationally renowned filmmaker for titles including Volver, Pain And Glory, The Skin I Live In and, most recently, Parallel Mothers. His work often focuses on themes of motherhood, national identity and interpersonal relationships.

As well as intriguing storylines and stand-out emotional performances, Almodóvar's films are known for their chic production design and costumes. Prepare to fall in love again with The Room Next Door, as costume designer Bina Daigeler, known for her work on TÁR and Mulan, reunites with Almodóvar after Volver and All About My Mother.

If you're a fan of intriguing drama to get lost in and want to see two heavyweight actors finally together on screen, make no mistake, The Room Next Door should be high on your watch list.  Hannah Strong