Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore Stun Venice in Pedro Almodóvar Film

Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore and Pedro Almodóvar are a force to be reckoned with — if their reception in Venice is anything to go by.

The trio soaked up the raucous applause inside the Venice Film Festival‘s Sala Grande Monday night where the world premiere of Almodóvar’s first-ever English language feature was received with an ardent at 17-minute standing ovation.

His poignant film The Room Next Door, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through, follows best-selling writer Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) as they rekindle their friendship after losing touch. As they immerse themselves in past memories, anecdotes, art and movies, Martha, battling terminal cervical cancer, wants to die with dignity and asks Ingrid to be in the next room when she takes a euthanasia pill.

At the movie’s press conference earlier in the day, the Spaniard auteur, known for films such as Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and All About My Mother, discussed how the film is pro-euthanasia. “This movie is in favor of euthanasia,” he said.

“It is something we admire about the character of Tilda, she decides that getting rid of cancer can only be done by making the decision she actually makes… ‘If I get there before, cancer will not win over me,’ she says. And so she finds a way to reach her objective with the help of her friend, but they have to behave as if they were criminals.” He added: “There should be the possibility to have euthanasia all over the world.”

Swinton and Moore are admittedly huge fans of the filmmaker and have used their time in Venice to sing his praises. Moore said she doesn’t know a director in the entire world who could have made a better film about female friendship.

“The lens that Pedro puts on this relationship is that not only do we have a mother and daughter story, which we see actually often in literature and in film, but we very rarely see a story about female friendship, and especially female friends who are older,” Moore said.

She added: “I don’t know that there’s another filmmaker in the world who would do that.” Her comments were made more touching by her and Swinton’s obvious camaraderie for the photo call before the presser.

Swinton also lauded the 74-year-old’s directorial chops, explaining that a long time ago she told Almodóvar she would do anything to work with him: “One day, when I was in the same space as him, I said: ‘Listen, I’ll learn Spanish for you. I don’t care.’.. He has continued to be the master that he always works to be there for this film. To feel the freshness and the rigor and absolute discipline of him is awe-inspiring, and I still feel like a student seeing his first film.”

The Room Next Door gets its world premiere Monday night at the Venice International Film Festival, and will receive its U.S. premiere as the centerpiece selection for the 2024 New York Film Festival on Oct. 4.

The movie will open in theaters Dec. 20 after being scooped up by Sony Pictures Classics.