Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar unveiled his first English feature, The Room Next Door at the Venice Film Festival. It received an 18-minute, 36-second long ovation, reported Deadline. Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton joined the Spanish maestro for the world premiere screening. The cast includes Alessandro Nivola, Juan Diego Botto, Raul Arevalo, Melina Mathews, and Victoria Luengo, among others. Venice Film Festival 2024: George Clooney Praises Joe Biden’s Decision To Exit the 2024 Presidential Race, Calls It ‘A Selfless Act’ (Watch Video).

Moore plays Ingrid, a best-selling writer who rekindles her friendship with Swinton's character Martha, a war correspondent. The two women immerse themselves in their histories, but Martha has a request that will test their newly strengthened bond. This is a reteam for Almodovar and Swinton, who starred in his first English-language short, 2020's The Human Voice, which similarly debuted in Venice.

The Room Next Door

Almodovar wrote the script, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez's 2020 novel What Are You Going Through.

He shared that he had 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."

Almodovar 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 Almodovar, "You have to be able to be the owner of your own experience."

Swinton added, "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 appreciated Almodovar for focusing 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." Venice International Film Festival 2024: From ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ to ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’ – Find Out When It Begins and Explore the Full Line-Up!.

A December 20 domestic release date has been set. Produced by Almodovar's El Deseo, The Room Next Door was shot between Madrid and New York, with the support of Movistar Plus+. This is Almodovar's first feature-length project since 2021's Parallel Mothers, reported Deadline.