Emilia Pérez

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Born in the Dominican Republic and moving to Mexico for university studies where she eventually ends up as a lawyer, Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña) laments how her latest case turns out, being ruled as a suicide despite clearly being a
murder after the key witness refuses to testify. On her way out of the courtroom she receives a lucrative offer via an anonymous phone call asking her to wait in front of a newsstand, which she obediently does before being kidnapped by two armed men. In an armored van she comes face to face with Juan “Manitas” del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), a notorious drug lord who promises her 2 million if she helps him fake his death so he can fully transition into a woman and live a peaceful life, flashing her his breasts as a sign that she already began hormone therapy. Doing what she is told, Rita gets his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and his two sons to Lausanne as a safe haven before carrying out the rest of the plan. Four years later, Rita meets enigmatic philanthropist Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón) at a party in London, realizing that her past has finally come back to haunt her.

A Mexican drug cartel musical wasn’t really on any of my bingo cards this year, but here we are. As per early Oscar predictions on Gold Derby, Karla Sofía Gascón currently ranks second to Anora’s Mikey Madison in the lead actress race after winning the Best Actress prize at Cannes which was shared with her two co-stars. Zoe Saldaña is the current frontrunner in the supporting actress category while Selena Gomez keeps shuttling back and forth between the top five and top ten. At this point, we can say that Gascón and Saldaña are already a shoo-in for nominations. After watching the film, I say well-deserved, especially for Saldaña.

It is strange that Saldaña is being campaigned for in Supporting considering her screen time is longer and it is through her eyes that we watch this story unfold. However, if you look at how the narrative is framed, we can argue that this is really Emilia’s story. Yes, Rita Moreno is as busy as ever but she is just an accomplice here, despite Saldaña doing all the heavy lifting as far as musical performances are concerned. Some people will cry category fraud for sure but Netflix knows well how nomination campaigns work and as it is, this seems to be the best way for them to score sure double nominations in those two categories.

If you are still confused and the trailer did not help at all, Emilia Pérez is a French production by French auteur Jacques Audiard. The film is set in Mexico, though, so everything is in Spanish with just a smattering of English here and there. It is rumored that France will submit this as their official entry for Best Foreign Film, although the hype for other categories including Best Picture is strong given how well-received the movie has been at Cannes and Toronto. If you look for audience reviews, though, you’ll find out that reception is rather mixed. It’s one of those love-it-or-hate-it films, no in-betweens.

And there is reason enough for that. This is the second “musical” this year after the Joker sequel where you have a hodgepodge of musical numbers where they totally commit to some, choreography and vocal pipes and all, only to serve the rest of them half-baked, with characters beginning their lines speaking before transitioning into sing-song which does not really translate well onscreen. Most of the musical numbers here are figments of the characters’ imagination, some smooth and well-choreographed like “El alegato”. The one where they go full-on, though, is “El mal” which, on its own, already merits Saldaña nominations everywhere.

I can’t really contribute much to the discourse of this film as a narrative for the trans experience, but many members of the LGBTQ+ community are very vocal about their disdain, accusing the white CIS-male director and producers of using being trans as a plot device but not diving deep into the specific struggles that their community faces on a daily basis. All I can say is that perhaps there really is no pleasing everybody but considering they cast an actual trans actress who is on her way to making history as the first to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, then perhaps we can at least conclude that there is progress here as far as representation is concerned.