The Room Next Door starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore won the Golden Lion for best film at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on Saturday.
The first English language film of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, The Room Next Door received an 18-minute standing ovation following its premiere at the festival earlier in the week. It follows Swinton’s character, a war correspondent battling terminal cancer who asks her old friend, portrayed by Moore, to support her as she chooses to end her life.
“I believe that saying goodbye to this world cleanly and with dignity is a fundamental right of every human being,” said the 74-year-old filmmaker after receiving the award.
He went on to explain that the film was created to express his belief that euthanasia should be a global right. “It is not a political issue, but a human issue," said the Oscar-winning director.
In his speech, Almodóvar also praised Moore and Swinton for their performances. “This award really belongs to them, it's a film about two women and the two women are Julianne and Tilda.”
Other notable winners included Nicole Kidman, who took home the best actress award for her role in Babygirl. Kidman portrays a powerful CEO risking her career and family to embark on an affair with a much younger intern. Although Kidman attended the film’s premiere last week, she was absent from the awards ceremony due to the passing of her mother.
In a statement read on her behalf, Kidman expressed her grief: “My heart is broken. I'm in shock, and I have to go to my family. But this award is for her. She shaped me, she guided me, and she made me.”
French actor Vincent Lindon won the best actor award for his performance in The Quiet Son, a film about a family torn apart by radical right-wing extremism.
The best director accolade went to American filmmaker Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, a story about a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor, portrayed by Adrien Brody, who attempts to rebuild his life in the US.
The 81st edition of the world’s oldest film festival concluded on Saturday night, attracting numerous international stars to Venice’s red carpet.
