Pedro Almodovar's 'The Room Next Door' crowned Best Film at 81st Venice Film Festival
Actress Nicole Kidman won the award for Best Actress for her role in 'Babygirl.' However, the performer could not come to collect the award after learning of the sudden death of her mother.
Pedro Almodóvar poses with the Golden Lion he won for 'The Room Next Door,' his first feature film in English
"The Room Next Door," the controversial feature film in which Pedro Almodóvar defends euthanasia and the first film that he made entirely in English, won the Golden Lion for Best Film this Saturday during the closing gala of the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival.
The feature film, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore and based on Sigrid Núñez's novel "What's Your Torment," features two friends, Martha and Ingrid, who reunite years after working together as journalists in New York.
The reason for their reunion, however, is not a happy one. Martha, played by Tilda Swinton, has been diagnosed with an incurable cancer and, unable to cope with the disease, she asks her friend Ingrid (Julianne Moore) to help her die.
Despite the controversial subject matter, the film was one of the big surprises of the International Film Festival, being praised by film critics and audiences, who gave it a 17-minute ovation, as reported by the Spanish newspaper ABC.
This resulted in the film beating the other 21 candidates to win the Golden Lion, including the awaited sequel of Todd Phillips' "Joker."
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An award that Almodóvar, who has already been recognized at the Venice Festival with the best screenplay for "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (1988) and with the honorary Golden Lion to his career in 2019, decided to dedicate both to his family and, especially, to the leading ladies of his feature film, who failed to take home any awards:
"I dedicate the Golden Lion to my family, to my brother Agustin. I share the award with the whole team, but in particular with Tilda and Julianne, the award belongs to them. They made a miracle and I don't have enough words to thank them."
The other big star of the night was Nicole Kidman, who received the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in "Babygirl."
However, the performer was unable to attend the ceremony as, hours earlier, she had learned of the sudden death of her mother, as explained the film's director Halina Reijn, in charge of reading the statement Kidman had left for festival-goers:
"Today I arrived in Venice and shortly after I found out that my beautiful and brave mother has just passed away. I am in shock and have to go back to my family, but this award is for her. She was the one who guided me and made me."
The Volpi Cup for Best Actor went to Frenchman Vincent Lindon for his role in "The Quiet Son," while the Silver Lion (also known as the Grand Jury Prize) went to "Vermiglio," the Italian film by Maura Delpero. Also recognized was the feature film "April," directed by Georgian Dea Kulumbegashvili.
The Venice International Film Festival also awarded filmmaker Brady Corbet with the Silver Lion for Best Director for his work in "The Brutalist," while Brazilians Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega won the award for Best Screenplay for "I’m Still Here," directed by Walter Salles.
Finally, the award for Best Emerging Actor went to Frenchman Paul Kircher for his performance in the film "And their Children After Them," another controversial film competing in this 81st edition of the Venetian Mostra.
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