Emilia Pérez is a Spanish-speaking, French-produced film that takes place in Mexico with scenes in Israel, Thailand, Switzerland, and England. And yes, the movie is as complex as the previous sentence.
Set in Mexico, Rita (Zoe Saldaña) is a lawyer and is commissioned to help Mexican drug lord Mantias (Karla Sofía Gascón) fake his own death and start a new life as a woman. It is up to Rita to find surgeons and protect Mantias’ family (a wife, Selena Gomez, and two children) throughout the transition. Mantias transitions to Emilia Pérez, and Emilia and Rita part ways. It’s not until Rita and Emilia meet in London when everything intertwines and starts to unravel. The women end up going back to Mexico due to Emilia’s want to be with her children. Rita and Emilia then start an organization that finds the bodies that were killed by Mantinas’ cartel. From there, everything escalates, grows complex, and takes a turn for the worst (for the viewers and the characters). And you wouldn’t expect a film involving a drug cartel to be a musical. But it was. As I got further into the film, the songs were closer together, and the topics of the songs got stranger and stranger. And so did the plot.
At the Golden Globes on January 5th, Emilia Pérez entered the awards ceremony with ten nominations – the most of any film or show. Of those ten, they won four: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy; Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language (France); Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Zoe Saldaña); and Best Original Song (“El Mal”). It was after that night that I decided that I should watch what I think will be this awards season’s silent sweep.
I had high hopes for this movie. It swept the Golden Globes, shockingly. And I say shockingly because many people realized that it was released rather quietly. This has allowed movie viewers to believe that Emilia Pérez would be the next great silent sweeper. As for recent nominations, the Spanish-speaking French film has earned three nominations for the SAG Awards, ten nominations at the Critic’s Choice Awards, and eleven nominations for the BAFTA Film Awards. If one were to look only at the nominations and nothing else, one would expect Emilia Pérez to be an impressive film. I was disappointed. Ten to fifteen minutes into the film, I realized it would be very political as it entered the entertainment industry’s season. If this movie is being awarded based on acting, post-production efforts, and related elements, Emilia Pérez should not be getting the nominations it already has.
Yes, this may sound harsh, but this is true. Ableit, the first song was incredible. I was impressed by Saldaña’s voice and the power she put into the lyrics. Her tone during this song echoed that of Neytiri, her character in Avatar. However, I noticed editing flubs early on (for those who know me and my love of films, you’ll know this bugs me, even if it’s the smallest of details). The transitions between shots weren’t always smooth, making it jumpy. Quite frankly, I wanted to shout each time there was a choppy shot. Maybe this was intentional, but it made the efforts in post-production look hasty. I will be surprised if Emilia Pérez ends up being nominated for Best Film Editing at the Oscars.
The movie’s songs seemed unnecessary – the story could’ve been told just fine without them. The songs eventually started to sound the same after the first three. Yes, it was cool how sounds within scenes were incorporated with the start of a song, but that’s the best I can say. Saldaña’s accent was inconsistent while she was speaking and singing. She would sing a song in English with an accent and then another one with no accent whatsoever. When she spoke English, her accent sounded different each time. I, again, do not know if this was intentional or not, but if it was, there was no explanation as to why it was. As the film progressed, I started to question what was going on, and if the events that were happening had anything to do with anything.
This film has received much controversy. After reading some articles, I can see why. Most of this comes from the decision made by the French director, Jacques Audiard. According to an interview conducted with NBC, Audiard admits that he did not do much research on Mexico before filming. The whole movie was filmed in Paris, but aerial shots of cities were real. Latin Americans and others have spoken out about this. Many accuse Audiard of basing his movie on stereotypes commonly associated with Mexico, violence, drugs, and humanitarian problems. The LGBTQ+ community has spoken publicly out of anger. GLAAD, an advocacy group for the LGBTQ+ community claims Emilia Pérez “is a step backward for trans representation.” They also say that the trans stereotype and other tropes are “clichés of the not-so-distant past.”
Emilia Pérez is making history. That much is for sure. Karla Sofía Gascón has already made history by being the first transgender actress to be nominated for a BAFTA and is expected to be the first for the Academy Awards. This is my honest opinion of the film. I want to make it clear that I’m not hating on anyone or anything. If you want a movie to think about for a long period of time after the show ends, then Emilia Pérez is the film for you. If you want to catch up on the gossip in the film industry and see what everyone’s talking about, then you should watch Emilia Pérez. It is streaming on Netflix.
