40/19
They both meant Julianne Moore
Story
Ingrid and Martha were close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine. After years of no contact, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation. When Pedro Almodóvar sent the script to Tilda Swinton, he asked her who should play Ingrid.
Featured on The 7PM Project: Episode of September 8, 2024 (2024)
Successful writer "Ingrid" (Julianne Moore) is signing some books when one of her friends informs her that an old friend "Martha" (Tilda Swinton) has cancer. When she visits her in the hospital, she finds that things are not looking so good and, over the next few days, the two begin to get closer, exchanging confidences and becoming dependent on each other. When an experimental treatment fails, former war reporter “Martha” makes a rather bold proposition to her girlfriend, demanding that they retire to a quiet residence in Woodstock, where she takes matters into her own hands.
(John Turturro) for advice as she wrestles with her conscience
At first she was rather wary of this plan, “Ingrid” said. She must decide whether or not she wants to help, with all the moral and legal implications that entails, so she turns to an ex-boyfriend of both women, “Damian,” for help. This concept is actually quite touching, especially in light of the revived conversations here in the UK about the rights of the terminally ill to make their own decisions without fear of being persecuted by the law or by fanatics, but I can’t say I liked the presentation or the style.
In fact, it all deals with some serious emotional issues in a remarkably sterile way
Much of the dialogue between the two women seems to be focused on padding the audience rather than building the relationship between them. The things you’d need to know about the latter are presented in a way too sterile, and at times I wondered if there wasn’t a decent amount of dubbing. Both actors give solid performances, but their dynamic isn’t convincing – well, it wasn’t for me, and the amount of wordiness smothered the emotional impact the film could have had.
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