It seemed to be a pending issue, always stuck. Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language film was on the verge of being made several times, but ultimately it never happened. It was close to this adaptation of Handbook for housekeepers with Cate Blanchett as the protagonist, but the Spanish director was not prepared. The thorn remained and after two short films in English, he found the confidence to launch a feature film in another language with The next piece, which has just premiered successfully in Venice. The two short films were fundamental for this, but also for finding an actress like Tilda Swinton, who, despite being born in another country, seemed condemned to understand it. Her physique, her way of pronouncing sentences, her taste for risk… everything made her have what Almodóvar looks for in his actresses.
She also believes that there was something that destined them to work together. For her, that something lies in Almodóvar’s indomitable spirit, which makes him compare to his old friend and almost mentor, Derek Jarman. This Monday, he mentioned them at the press conference and a few hours later, in front of a small group of Spanish journalists, he expanded on this connection. “Derek was my teacher. We had this Renaissance idea that we were in his studio, we were the apprentices and he was the master. And we learned everything about working with filmmakers like him. Now I’m with another teacher,” he begins.
He repeats the word several times and underlines and amplifies it: “he is a master in full force, being with him is very familiar to me, not only because of the world he lives in, but because of his sensitivity, he is an artist.” weird as Derek was. He adds another to the flattery: “Poet.” He made the remarks when asked about some of the criticism in the American media that questioned the film’s English dialogue. “It’s very disappointing to read that, because I think they don’t understand Almodóvar. He’s not realistic. He’s not interested in realism. He’s a poet and he always works as if he were writing stories. It’s not naturalism, and it’s a shame that Americans don’t realize that. I guess we can forgive them because they’re used to watching Almodóvar films and reading the subtitles, and now they don’t have that anymore,” he says forcefully.
He attributes it to “a lack of understanding” and stresses that “language is not only speech, but cinema.” “Cinema is his language. It is the language he speaks and it is the language we all understand when we watch his films. And those of us who work with him have to learn that language and speak it. And when I say speak, I don’t just mean the text itself, but also the gestures, the shapes, the colors we use, all of this is his language…” he stresses.
During the presentation of the film, she also highlighted how Almodóvar’s cinema has always represented those who are on the margins, to whom cinema does not usually give the space they deserve, and she highlighted this today, but adding that for her it is good that he also does it “without that feeling of transcendence and without any remorse. That is why he compares him to another total, political and revolutionary artist like Pasolini: “An artist outsider He enters the culture and says: ‘There’s nothing marginal here, there’s nothing marginal about me.’ “Pedro does that and Derek does that, even though the London culture we had at the time was very different to La Movida.”
Swinton claims that The next piece talks about life rather than death and how “we are all alone, and the only thing we can do with that loneliness is to find a connection and to witness our loneliness, not to try to disturb someone else’s loneliness.” “Telling someone, ‘I’ll be your friend.’ I’ll support you when I can. But I’ll stay away when you don’t need me,” he adds.
We are all in the next room. We are in the room next to Ukraine, Gaza, Jerusalem, the United States, Syria or Yemen. We must listen, look and not look away.
Tilda Swinton
— Actress
He regretted not having had more influence at the press conference on a meaning that Pedro Almodóvar highlighted well by giving a political meaning to the film. For Tilda Swinton, it comes from the title itself: “We are all in the next room. We are in the room next to Ukraine, Gaza, Jerusalem, the United States, Syria or Yemen. We must be able to listen, to look and not look away. We can feel alone, but we are witnesses to what is happening, and I believe that this is the gesture of love at the individual level that a human being can make towards another. It does not matter if it is your husband, your wife, your lover, your son, your grandmother, your friend… it is simply to say: I am here, I see you, I listen to you and I respect you.”
Faced with the hate speech denounced by Almodóvar, Tilda Swinton believes that the key would be two words. “Respect and dignity.” “It doesn’t seem like much to ask,” he says bluntly, although he also believes that there is a victory for capitalism in that it seems so complicated to achieve. “What capitalism has done effectively and inevitably, although I believe there are ways to avoid it, is to install this feeling that we have to be alone because we can’t keep each other company. And to alleviate that, it tells us that we have to keep buying things. We are made to believe that no human will be as good as buying something and consuming it,” he said.
She also assured that she shares with her character her criticism of the speeches usually used to refer to cancer and diseases, which she had to hear several times from friends who died or had cancer. “They convey this harmful idea that only the unfortunate die. If you die, either you are unlucky or you are not smart enough to avoid it. And then if you have cancer, you have to be a fighter and win. But if you get sicker, you lose the battle. It is absolutely absurd and it is very disrespectful. It is disrespectful and cruel. It is sadistic. And some of the worst perpetrators of this attitude come from the cancer support community who say things like ‘it will be good for your spirit’ or ‘you will grow through this agony,'” he said critically.
For all this, she dedicates herself to this film, but also to Almodóvar, because what is very clear to her is that she will not let him escape. He says that they already have conversations to continue working together, and that he hopes that it will be just one more and that he will join that list of “comrades” in which he places filmmakers like “Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Wes Anderson Bong.” Joon-ho and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
