Directed by Jacques Audiard

Hindered by deafening criticism since its release and plagued by scandals throughout its Oscar nomination run, Netflix’s Emilia Pérez has been the subject of social controversy for months. Colin Jost called it “a ChatGPT creation designed to make my grandfather’s head explode,” on SNL’s Weekend Update.

The titular Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) begins the story as Mexican cartel lord “Manitas” Del Monte — father of two and disinterested husband of Selena Gomez‘s Jessi — who recruits Rita, a struggling lawyer (Zoe Saldaña), to organize a process fulfilling the character’s desire to “be a woman.” Rita helps Manitas execute a plan to disappear, undergo the necessary gender transition surgeries (dozens of which she apparently receives all at once), and begin a new life in another country. Rita is promised riches in exchange for her temporary services as coordinator.

Four years later, Emilia starts to miss her family and somehow convinces Jessi to bring their children from Switzerland back to Mexico by pretending to be Manitas’s distant cousin. This ruse drags Rita back into the fray, and the two form an unlikely bond. Fraught with guilt over the part she once played in the cartel-related deaths of innocent Mexicans, Emilia partners with Rita to launch a non-profit that identifies the bodies of civilian victims. Through this work, she becomes a national hero and meets Epifanía (Adriana Paz), who she begins dating — apparently proving her personal growth.

And as if the plot isn’t thick enough, Emilia Pérez is a musical.

The breakdown

Despite what could (maybe?) be interesting subject matter, the plot drags. At just over two hours, Emilia Pérez is a commitment that never pays off.

Saldaña gets a chance to show her range in this film, but her talent has never really been in doubt. This is largest picture by far for the other stars of the film, although Gomez has, of course, been making waves in television since the 2000s. Her performance is passable; both Gascón and Paz are adequate, as well.

A lot of information is delivered through songs (or rather talk-sung, rap-like dialogue set to music), but there doesn’t seem to be an identifiable reason for that. Why, for example, was Emilia’s entire list of gender-affirming surgeries chant-sung for over three minutes? The accompanying choreography usually feels awkward and strange — even Gomez, a seasoned musical performer with world stadium tours on her resume, seems to struggle with fluidity of movement during the film’s dance scenes.

None of this music, by the way, even entertains a similarity to a traditional Mexican genre. In fact, most of the music is barely recognizable as rhythmic and there are no recurring musical themes.

In between the musical numbers, we’re confronted with cinematically disjointed (at times presumably purposefully out-of-focus?) scenes that clumsily carry the plot forward. There are some moments of forced conflict foreshadowing, like Epifanía bringing a knife to her first meeting with Emilia, and ineffective examples of personal struggle and failure, like Emilia’s inability to control her anger when Jessi announces her engagement to Gustavo.

The accompanying scandal

Without diving too deep, Gascón has been the topic of many heated debates following widespread exposure of her past online presence. You can read more here, but it boils down to some negative comments regarding Muslims, George Floyd, co-star Selena Gomez, and other unsuspecting innocents. Gascón claims the unearthing of her social media accounts is a direct attack on her Oscar chances (she is the first openly trans actress to be nominated for an Academy Award). Great review of the movie and this scandal here.

Final thoughts

In addition to all the above criticisms, it’s necessary to point out that none of the main cast members are, in fact, from Mexico — Gomez is third-generation Mexican American, Gascón and Saldaña are Spanish and Dominican American, respectively — and the entire movie was filmed on a sound stage in Paris, France. Audiard and his team used “research and sound libraries” to create the “Mexican feel”, resulting in a dastardly representation of a Hollywood-ified version of the country not at all based in reality. Audiard does not speak Spanish.

Despite some strong performance moments, the film never lands — likely because the plot, which could have explored big themes like personal transformation and gender identity, holds no real momentum, and its musical numbers are awkward and disjointed.

Call it Oscar bait, call it “genre-defying”, call it what you’d like. Reactions to this movie have been either blindingly positive or furiously negative, but in the end, Emilia Pérez is nothing more than a series of questionable and poorly executed creative choices.

Update: Despite 13 Academy Award nominations, Emilia Pérez left the 97th ceremony with just two Oscars — Best Supporting Actress for Saldaña and Best Original Song for “El Mal.” If you hated this movie as much as the rest of the world and want a good ‘secondhand cringe’ laugh, watch the viral acceptance speech from the song’s composers.

This movie is bad.

My rating: 1/5