A Spanish-language musical film, directed by French auteur Jacques Audiard (‘The Prophet’, ‘Rust’ and ‘Bone’), about a Mexican cartel leader who enlists the help of a lawyer to undergo gender reassignment surgery, featuring career-defining performances from Disney Channel alumna Selena Gomez and ‘Avatar’’s Zoe Saldana was definitely not on my movie bingo card!
There’s no denying ‘Emilia Pérez’ is one of the most original films to hit the screen in recent years. It’s filmmaking at its most daring and it mostly works.
Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon plays a notorious Mexican cartel leader, Manitas who recruits an overworked, underappreciated and underpaid lawyer, Rita (Zoe Saldana) to assist in finding a suitable and discreet location for gender reassignment surgery. Rita helps Manitas stage their death and has Manitas’ wife Jessi (played by Selena Gomez) and their two children relocated to Switzerland, while Manitas quietly resumes life as Emilia Pérez. Years later, Emilia reenters Rita’s life and enlists her to reunite her with her children and Jessi in Mexico, where Emilia pretends she is Manitas’ cousin. During this time, Emilia and Rita work to correct the ways of her past and help families who have been impacted by the actions of the cartel, but her secrets and deceptions lead to brewing tensions with her past including a disgruntled and bitter Jessi and the cartel – which could ultimately lead to her undoing.
I’ve been intrigued about this film ever since it was first announced and couldn’t envision how a collaboration between one of foreign cinema’s most respected directors, Audiard and two of Hollywood’s biggest stars Saldana and Gomez would work – but its easy to see why critics have praised the film and why ‘Emilia Pérez’ is mostly sweeping the awards circuit since its world premiere at Cannes. It’s recently been nominated for a staggering 13 Oscars, breaking the record for the most nominations for a foreign language film and just behind the 14 nominations record held by ‘La La Land’, ‘All About Eve’ and ‘Titanic’.
Despite its accolades, the film has received some criticism for its lack of authentic Mexican representation and earworm musical numbers, and also for its melodramatic plot and stylistic choices. While not everything in the film works, what it does get right, it gets right well – in particular the performances. Karla Sofia Gascon is a revelation in her breakout performance as Manitas and Emilia. Her transformation from the sinister yet lifeless Manitas to the fiery Emilia is more than impressive. Selena Gomez gives her grittiest performance to date since Harmony Korine’s ‘Spring Breakers’, as a grieving and timid young wife to a newly liberated woman who wants to live life on her terms; and Adriana Paz is moving as a new love interest for Emilia; while Edgar Ramirez adds some additional tension to the plot as Gustavo. However, it’s Saldana’s hypnotic performance as Rita that steals the film. Saldana might be more well-known for her roles in science fiction franchises like ‘Avatar’, ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ and ‘Star Trek’; but the actress who broke out in dance drama ‘Centre Stage’ back in 2000 seems most at home singing and dancing in her native tongue – it just seems a shame it’s taken this long to see her do what she does best.
The film’s musical numbers might not have the same amount of earworms as recent musicals like ‘Wicked’ or ‘Mufasa:The Lion King’; but considering the film and its numbers were originally conceived as an opera – it makes sense that they’re more conversational rather than written for a melodic singalong. Regardless, the few standout tracks by French songwriters Camile and Clement Ducol include ‘El Mal’ performed by Zoe Saldana’s Rita in a highly charged, superbly choreographed musical number and ‘Mi Camino’, a catchy, seductive number which works perfectly with Gomez’s signature, whispery and breathy tone. Both scenes are visual highlights.
While there is much to praise about ‘Emilia Pérez’, it isn’t a perfect film. The pacing is somewhat off, the third act and climax is rushed and the lyrics to several of the musical musical numbers seem to get diluted in translation. While some elements of the production are questionable such as a predominately French crew creating a Mexican film in Paris, which would undoubtedly impact its authenticity, it’s still evident a lot of passion was involved and risks were taken by its director and leading ladies and it should be praised for its originality.
It’s wild, it’s exhilarating and it really is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. After all, isn’t that why we go to the movies?
