Emilia Pérez
Three and a bit years ago I watched a slightly bonkers multi genre musical from a French director. It featured songs from Sparks and all-in performances from its cast. It was Leos Carax’s Annette and despite its ludicrousness and operatic nature, it managed to win me over (positive review here). Now comes another multi genre musical from a French director, described as a “pop opera, narco thriller, and gender affirmation drama”. It’s Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez and it just won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy (to some outcry from cinephiles across the internet). I saw it back in December before the discourse had really started to pop off; the film had its fans but it also had its haters, so I went in with my blinders up. Having had plenty of time to mull over my feelings, I think I fall into the latter camp.
Emilia Pérez stars Zoe Saldaña as Rita Moro Castro, a Mexico City defence attorney who has a knack for keeping the rich and dangerous out of jail. Her skills catch the eye of Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofia Gascón in prosthetics), a top cartel boss who is secretly transitioning and needs help disappearing from this life of crime. Despite being a highly skilled lawyer Rita seems to have the salary of a retail worker. So she reluctantly takes the extreme Executive Assistant job (with an extreme salary to match) and arranges the remainder of Manitas’ procedures overseas, organises a witness protection move for his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their kids, and fakes Manitas’ death.
And so Emilia Pérez (Gascón) is born. With her new identity comes an opportunity to do something better with her life, like founding a not for profit that identifies the bodies of cartel victims to bring families closure. But something Emilia didn’t account for was missing her family (duh). So she rehires Rita to bring Jessi and the kids (who’ve been chilling in Switzerland waiting for this all to blow over) back to Mexico, masquerading as Manitas’ distant cousin so that there’s a logical reason for housing them. And just as things seem to be going well, loose ends from Emilia’s past creep in and cause some problems. There are some industries that you don’t just retire from and as it turns out, the cartel is one of them.
The film evolved from an opera libretto Audiard wrote after reading Boris Razon’s novel Écoute and honing in on one character. It premiered at Cannes where it won the Jury Prize and its three central stars collectively received the Best Actress award. Hollywood legend Michael Mann called it a “contemporary masterpiece” and other prominent directors and writers (James Cameron, Paul Schrader, Guillermo Del Toro for instance) have echoed similar sentiments. A look through the social media comments of the wider populace suggests a different takeaway.
I’d seen a few negative words about the film prior to the Golden Globes but its win over fellow nominees Anora, The Substance, Challengers, A Real Pain and even Wicked seemed to open the floodgates, turning what everyone was thinking into what everyone was saying. Some Mexican viewers take issue with the film’s lack of cultural context; it’s directed by a Frenchman, filmed in France and could be argued to make light of one of Mexico’s most rampant issues. The LGBTQ community were also critical, with GLAAD calling the film “a profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman". And then there’s the worldwide audience of chronically online cinephiles. My favourite one-liner Letterboxd review calls Emilia Pérez “Like if Ryan Murphy tried to make a Pedro Almodóvar film,” but there are many, many others that are more vitriolic.
I have no authority to speak about the film’s depiction of the trans experience or indeed the Mexican experience (neither, as it seems, does the film itself) but there are many other problems I can rant about.
Firstly, Emilia Pérez is a narrative and sensory mess. Its opening scene is undoubtedly well choreographed but no mind was paid to the visual noise the viewer would be subjected to. A Zoe Saldaña-led dance number sets up the premise but there’s so much happening behind the subtitles that you’d need a third eye to take it all in. The storyline of the Manitas to Emilia transition is the most engaging part of the film but it’s dealt with in the first third and then we move on to what feels like a different story altogether. There are too many themes at play and none of them feel properly explored, and it left me feeling like I’d seen a series of caricatures rather than an operatic character study. At just over two hours, its lack of cohesion makes it feel longer and more arduous to sit through, without even a bop to tap your feet to.
And that’s my second problem; for a supposed musical, the songs just don’t hit. This is interesting, especially considering Clément Ducol was the musical director and arranger on Annette. Swapping out the Maels with French singer Camille as collaborator results in a soundtrack that feels more like a bunch of spoken word tracks set to music. There’s a karaoke number by Selena Gomez that’s about as potent as her pop songs, and apart from the overtly comedic track ‘La Vaginoplastia’, the rest are silly, forgettable or both.
So, the script is a mess and the songs aren’t songs. Why is Emilia Pérez winning awards?
In fairness, most of the performances are strong. Karla Sofia Gascón and Adriana Paz as Epifania are the standouts, and Zoe Saldaña is good, if underutilised as a dancer. Selena Gomez has only ever worked for me as an actor in Only Murders in the Building and that’s still the case. The film’s greatest asset is also its greatest downfall; it’s highly original and ambitious to a fault, an admirable swing and a miss. That Emilia Pérez tries to do so many things and fails is more forgivable to me than if it didn’t try at all. Audiard and co took risks, dammit. They don’t pay off, but at least we can all agree on one thing: as the New York Times puts it, Emilia Pérez is “like no other movie at all."
It’s a strange misstep from a director whose work in the past has been so objectively good. I’ve enjoyed all the Jacques Audiard films I’ve seen (A Prophet, Read My Lips, The Sisters Brothers) and the ones I haven’t (2015 Palme d’Or winner Dheepan, Rust and Bone, The Beat That My Heart Skipped) come highly recommended, so it does feel like something went spectacularly wrong here. It could be because it’s the first film he’s written alone. Or that so little of Mexico made it into the film. Or that making a musical about so many touchy subjects without consulting anyone in the know was always going to rub people the wrong way. Still, there are plenty of people (some of them involved with the film) who regard Emilia Pérez as a profound piece of work, and whose opinions have been validated over and over by industry voices and awards. It’s worth seeing in cinemas to figure out where you stand. Or simply so you can have the pleasure of writing your own snarky one-line Letterboxd review.
I’ve now said all that I have the energy to say about Emilia Pérez and am in need of a good nap. Go if you want, don’t if you don’t. And if you’re after a slightly bonkers musical directed by a French guy, watch Annette on SBS On Demand.
Verdict
☆☆½
Emilia Pérez is in cinemas January 16th. You’ve been warned.
