Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton stunned the Venice Film Festival on Monday night with the premiere of Pedro Almodóvar‘s “The Room Next Door,” which received a 17-minute standing ovation, the longest of the 2024 edition so far.
After the film ended, the Spanish auteur kissed the cheeks of both Swinton and Moore and lifted up their arms like champion boxers. He then descended the stairs with his new muses, prolonging the ovation by shaking hands with fans in the theater. Swinton, in a white Chanel suit, hugged Moore, dressed in a gold shimmering gown. Moore looked misty-eyed as Almodóvar — in a cotton-candy pink suit — eagerly soaked in all the applause, with the crowd chanting, “Pedro! Pedro! Pedro!”
Almodóvar seemed to be individually waving to each fan in the Sala Grande theater throughout the rapturous applause. He clapped as Moore clutched his arm. As the ovation wound down, around minute 14, Almodóvar extended the clapping by running back down the stairs from the theater’s balcony to sign autographs and take selfies with fans. Moore and Swinton laughed as they tried to gauge exactly when they should try to make their escape out of the theater.
The applause for “The Room Next Door” has so far eclipsed the other big standing ovations of the festival: Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” (12 minutes), Pablo Larrain’s “Maria” (eight minutes) starring Angelina Jolie as the famous opera singer Maria Callas and Justin Kurzel’s “The Order (seven minutes), a 1980s crime thriller starring Jude Law.
The film, Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, debuted on a night in Venice where unbearable heat wave that has defined this year’s festivities broke for a few hours. Moore and Swinton held hands in the light drizzling rain on the red carpet, posing for photos as the paparazzi called out their names.
“The Room Next Door” stars the two Oscar winners in the roles of Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton), one-time friends who worked at the same New York magazine early in their careers. Ingrid, now a best-selling novelist, reconnects with Martha as she’s dealing with the late stages of cancer. The film features Almodóvar’s trademark plot twists even in a new city (though the brightly colored, perfectly lit apartments of these two women look more like they could be living in Madrid, not Manhattan).
Moore has been a mainstay at Venice Film Festival over the years, having previously attended for Robert Altman’s 1993 drama “Short Cuts,” which won the best ensemble award at the festival; Todd Hayne’s 2002 film “Far From Heaven,” for which she won Venice’s best actress prize; 2009’s “A Single Man,” the directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford; George Clooney’s directorial effort “Suburbicon” in 2017; and as jury president in 2022.
Swinton is also a Venice best actress winner, having won in 1991 for her performance in “Edward II.” She was also at the festival alongside Moore in 2009, when Luca Guadagnino’s romantic drama “I Am Love” premiered. In 2020, Swinton received the fest’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
“The Room Next Door” is Almodóvar’s follow-up to 2021’s “Parallel Mothers,” which also bowed at Venice and scored the fest’s best actress Volpi Cup for Penelope Cruz’s performance. Almodóvar’s past projects to premiere at Venice also include 1983’s “Dark Habits”; 1988’s “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” which won the best screenplay award; and his 2020 short film “The Human Voice” starring Swinton. He received the fest’s lifetime achievement award in 2019.
After its Venice premiere, “The Room Next Door” will open in theaters Dec. 20 from Sony Pictures Classics.