2024-09-08 19:01:31
The Golden Lion, or top prize at the Venice Film Festival, went to The Next Room, the first film made in English by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. The statuette for the best female performance goes to Nicole Kidman for the erotic thriller Babygirl. However, because her mother died, she did not attend the ceremony.
The award for best actor went to Frenchman Vincent Lindon, who portrayed a father struggling with one of his sons’ leanings towards the extreme right in the film Jouer avec le feu (Playing with Fire).
Almodóvar’s first English-language film, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, received an eighteen-minute standing ovation at its premiere earlier this week, one of the festival’s longest in recent memory. The side room deals with topics such as euthanasia and climate change. It tells the story of a former war correspondent who is dying of cancer and decides to voluntarily end her life. Before that, however, she wants to spend the last few days with her former colleague who has become a writer.
The Spanish director is popular in Venice, having presented many of his works at the festival over the past forty years. “I would like to dedicate this award to my family,” Pedro Almodóvar said at Saturday’s ceremony. “It’s my first film in English, but it has a Spanish spirit,” he added.
He also spoke again in favor of the introduction of euthanasia, as he had already done in Venice during the world premiere. “I really think it should be a basic human right to be able to leave this world with dignity when you see fit,” he added. At the gala evening, he highlighted the performance of the leading actresses.
“I have good news for you,” said French actress Isabelle Huppert, who chaired the jury this year, at the ceremony. “The cinema is in great condition,” she added shortly after.
The main jury, which also included Polish director Agnieszka Holland, chose from 21 films. The favorite was not obvious. There were great expectations surrounding the film Joker: Folie à deux, the first part of which won the Golden Lion in 2019. However, critics’ reactions to the sequel directed by Todd Philips are rather lukewarm, even negative.
In addition to Almodóvar’s new film, the adaptation of William Burroughs’ novel Queer by Italian director Luca Guadagnino or Brady Corbet’s 215-minute post-war epic The Brutalist with Adrien Brody in the lead role had a better response. At least Corbet finally received the award for directing on Saturday night.
Apart from him, actress Nicole Kidman and actor Vincent Lindon received the most watched statuettes. “Shortly after arriving in Venice, I learned that my mother, Janelle Kidman, had passed away. I am in shock and need to be with my family. This award is for her,” the 57-year-old actress said in a statement read in her absence at the ceremony. The film Babygirl, for which she received an award, deals with the romance of a high-ranking manager with an intern.
“I am extremely moved. I thank the entire jury,” added 65-year-old Vicent Lindon and thanked the directors of his film Jouer avec le feu, the sister duo Muriel Coulin and Delphine Coulin.
Vermiglio received the Silver Lion from the Italian director Maura Delpero. It deals with the last year of the Second World War, in which a young fighter seeking refuge comes to the family of a teacher in a small mountain village.
Video: Teaser trailer from the movie The Next Room
Czech cinemas will release the movie Vedlejší pokoj on December 5. | Video: Warner Bros.