Emilia Pérez
A true crime story that also tells a poignant love story and a journey of self-discovery, Emilia Pérez qualifies as a musical, as strangley as it might sound.
Written and directed by the famed Gallic filmmaker acques Audiard (A Prophet), the tale involves a powerful Mexican drug lord who secretly transitions to a woman.
What Juan “Manitas” Del Monte leaves behind when he transitions is a wife and children, who are relocated to Europe for their protection.
Jessi (Selena Gomez) mourns the death of her husband, but after moving back to Mexico she meets up with a former lover — and is also introduced to a distant cousin, Emilia Pérez (best actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón), not knowing Emilia is Jessi’s former husband.
In this scene Gomez performs the Oscar-nominated song “Mi Camino” (by Clément Ducol and Camille Dalmais), in which Jessie evokes the vulnerability of her character. “It was actually so therapeutic for me to sing,” Gomez said. “It’s basically in English translated to, you know, ‘If I fall off this hill it’s my hill; if I decide to do this with my life it’s my decision,’ and embracing womanhood if you will. And I really appreciated that.”
Memorable Scenes
In an Oscar winning turn, Zoe Saldaña plays Rita, a lawyer helping drug cartel kingpin Manitas leave his crime life benhind, and transition into Emilia, his new desired and true identity. Emilia eventually becomes a powerful force in helping families of cartel victims find the bodies of their loved ones through a nonprofit group, which Rita runs quite effectively.
At a gala fundraiser, in which Rita is clad in a splashy red velvet suit, she delivers a devastating song, about the facade of respectability in Mexican society that underwrites the cartel violence. It’s an excessive, show-stopping surreal scene. The corrupt members of society are having fun, drinking hampagne, as Emilia delivers a speech, while Rita is rapping and dancing on tables, exposing their hypocrisy with equal measure of righteous anger and unhinged energy.
Gomez described the experience of shooting the film as transformative: “The people I was around, I couldn’t have been luckier with their support and their wisdom. It just felt so right,” she said. “The story is original, but it’s also a story that a lot of people walk through. So, the way it was told was artistic and audacious and beautiful, but it is a true element where people crave and have a desire to live their life authentically, and whatever that looks like to them should never be judged. I thought that we did a good job encompassing that.”
“Also, when I read the script, my character came across quite harsh in the beginning. Jacques was really wonderful with collaborating with me because I felt like adding a bit of softness to her would help. So, there are these moments in the movie where you can take a deep breath and enjoy the ride, and then it brings you right back up to where the stakes are high.”
Gomez, Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, and Adriana Paz shared the best actress prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
“Emilia Pérez” is nominated for 13 Oscars–the most of any film this year– including best picture, best director, and best original score.
