"The Room Next Door": a Golden Lion, the Szoke House and the Madrid of Pedro Almodóvar

The Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar I know mainly from the music video from his film 'Tacones Lejanos' (high heels). The immortal song 'Un Año de Amor' by singer Luz Casal is performed by actor Miguel Bosé in an equally immortal Travistite role. Listen to the music and enjoy the sensual arm movements of singer Letal who's movements are synchronized by her audience. The song 'Un Año de Amor' has since than been one of the favorite songs on my music list about lost love. When singer Saskia van Engeland once again performs at Artcafé Luna in Olhão, the song is on the program and she sings it especially for me.

At the 81st Film Festival in Venice, Pedro Almódova managed to win the 'Golden Lion' - the highest distinction - with his first English drama film. "The Room Next Door" The film, an adaptation of the novel 'What Are You Going Through' by Sigrid Nunez is about Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton), two women who were good friends in their youth when they worked together for a magazine . After years without contact they find each other again. Martha suffers from cervical cancer, is terminal and wants girlfriend Ingrid to be with her when she wants her life to end.

A part of the film was recorded in the beautifully architecturally designed 'Szoke House' located in San Lorenzo de El Escorial in Spain and it is a design of Aranguren & Gallegos architects. The house - built between 2018 and 2020 in the forests of La Herrería, on the southern slope of Monte Abantos close to Madrid - is in the film in Catskill, a favorite holiday destination for the residents of New York City. The house is fragmented in successive and connected volumes along a steep slope in order to achieve a small scale effect and opens itself through different levels in the interior to the landscape. The beautiful views due to the large perforations have been chosen in terms of orientation in such a way that during the long winter of San Lorenzo de El Escorial the last sunbeam still falls on the facade. The house turns to the northeast, with a large veranda that looks out on the adjacent monastery and is open to two sides to take advantage of the cool wind from the pine forest in the summer. The red -brown skin of corten steel almost merges with the granite slope formed by erosion, causing the house to rise in its environment and coincides with the reddish hues of the pine trees.

So Madrid has once again a leading role in this new film by Pedro Almodóvar. The special attention to the role that Madrid plays in life and the films of Pedro Almodóvar can currently be seen in the exhibition 'Madrid, Chica Almodóvar', which can still be seen until 20 October in the Cultural Center Conde Doque. In this exhibition you visit the sets of many of the films of the famous director, where you as a curious spectator try to recognize the various locations in the city. Some have become iconic symbols of his universe, but others may not be that easy to recognize. For example the three residential blocks that stand along the M-30 as beehives, the cafeteria 'La Bobia' and even the Calle Arenal including Christmas lights are at the exhibition. Furthermore, of course interesting anecdotes about these film locations that are all part of the 'Madrid van Almodóvar'. You can find them all on the PDF with map to be downloaded here. The exhibition was compiled by Pedro Sánchez Castrejón, who is also the author of the book 'Todo Sobre Mi Madrid. Un Paseo Por El Madrid de Almodóvar '.