Pedro Almodóvar unveiled his latest feature, and his first in English, The Room Next Door, here at the Venice Film Festival this evening, receiving an 18-minute, 36-second ovation.
As soon as the lights came on and the audience stood, Almodóvar kissed the hands of both leading ladies, Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. The unusually long length of the ovation was likely due to the cast and Almodóvar descending from the gallery and staying for awhile, clapping along with the crowd.
The Spanish maestro was joined at the world premiere screening by stars Moore and Swinton. Also featuring in the cast are Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto, Raúl Arévalo, Melina Mathews and Victoria Luengo, among others.
In the film, Moore stars as Ingrid, a best-selling writer who rekindles a relationship with her friend Martha, a war journalist played by Swinton. The two women immerse themselves in their pasts, but Martha has a request that will test their newly strengthened bond. This is a reteam for Almodóvar and Swinton, who starred in his first English-language short, 2020’s The Human Voice, which similarly debuted in Venice.
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Almodóvar wrote the script, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel What Are You Going Through.
Earlier today, he told the Venice press corps he’d decided to make a film in English “To start a new era.” But, he “needed to have the right vehicle to do it.” He found that “in the middle of the pages of the book.” Language ultimately was “not a problem” because both Swinton and Moore “understood exactly the tone I wanted to tell the story,” Almodovar said, calling the duo “a festival of two wonderful actresses.”
Almodóvar also told the press that the film is about “the state of the planet and the state of people.” He wanted it to express “in a clear way” his feelings on euthanasia, which is what Swinton’s character intends after a terminal cancer diagnosis. Said Almodóvar, “You have to be able to be the owner of your own experience.”
Swinton mused, “I think of this film as, in the first case, a love story between Ingrid and Martha… and also about evolution whether talking about war, climate catastrophe… There is faith in the film in the necessity and inevitability of evolution wherever it takes us.”
Moore praised Almodóvar for focusing his lens on “a story about female friendship and female friends who are older… I don’t know another filmmaker in the world that would do that other than Pedro.” These types of relationships, Moore called “unsung,” adding, “their importance cannot be overvalued.”
Warner Bros has some key international markets including the filmmaker’s home turf of Spain as well as Italy, the UK, Germany, the Nordics, Central & Eastern Europe (excluding Poland), Latin America and some of Asia-Pacific, including Japan.
Almodóvar’s frequent collaborators at Sony Pictures Classics have rights in North America, the Middle East, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. A December 20 domestic release date has been set.
Produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo, The Room Next Door was shot between Madrid and New York, with the support of Movistar Plus+.
This is Almodóvar’s first feature-length project since 2021’s Parallel Mothers, which debuted in Venice where Penelope Cruz won the Best Actress Volpi Cup for her role in the film.
Following its Lido debut, the drama will be the Centerpiece selection at the 62nd New York Film Festival.
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