{"id":20825,"date":"2024-12-15T13:03:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T18:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=20825"},"modified":"2025-03-07T17:41:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T22:41:57","slug":"emilia-perez-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=20825","title":{"rendered":"Emilia P\u00e9rez-2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emilia P\u00e9rez-2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Jacques Audiard<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Karla Sof\u00eda Gasc\u00f3n, Zoe Salda\u00f1a, Selena Gomez<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,455<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed December 15, 2024<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emilia P\u00e9rez (2024) is a brilliantly unique film that uses musical numbers to tell the riveting story of a transgender Mexican crime lord, her transition from male to female, and her difficult separation from her family.<\/p>\n

Jacques Audiard, most known for A Prophet (2009) and Rust and Bone (2012), directs this unique and brave film.<\/p>\n

Boldly featuring transgender actress Karla Sof\u00eda Gasc\u00f3n in the title role, the film showcases her talents and a needed burst of transgender representation in cinema.<\/p>\n

The film also defies genres and expectations. Is it a crime thriller? A musical? An LGBTQ+ film? It’s a bit of each with an operatic spin.<\/p>\n

On paper, it might seem jarring to watch a film about a Mexican drug cartel set against musical numbers, but I was immediately captured.<\/p>\n

Emilia’s character is a feared cartel leader who enlists a lawyer, Rita (Zoe Salda\u00f1ato), to help her disappear and achieve her dream of becoming a woman while whisking her clueless wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and children off to snowy Switzerland.<\/p>\n

While officially French, Emilia P\u00e9rez feels Latin since it is set mainly in Mexico, and most of the film is in Spanish.<\/p>\n

The film follows several women’s journeys in Mexico through liberating song, dance, and bold visuals, each pursuing their happiness. Emilia is center stage, and Rita, Jessi, and Emilia’s later love interest, Epifan\u00eda (Adriana Paz), also have their own stories, giving it an excellent ensemble feel.<\/p>\n

Rita is an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, Jessi wants to move on from her presumed-to-be dead husband, and Epifan\u00eda intends to move on from her abusive husband.<\/p>\n

Audiard makes it clear that the women cannot escape the drug cartel world even though they’d like to. Emilia even champions a movement to identify the victims of cartel-related deaths, attempting to give back to others with her new life.<\/p>\n

Emilia Perez is a significant victory because it’s so different,<\/strong><\/em> and that word kept returning to me. Rather than a straightforward transgender story, it mixes many other genres and creative song and dance numbers.<\/p>\n

Could Broadway be in its future?<\/p>\n

Each musical number is excellent, but two themes resonate most and support the story best.<\/p>\n

When Emilia, now pretending to be her children’s long-lost aunt, puts her son to bed, he confesses he still recognizes her scent (“Pap\u00e1”). She quietly weeps, knowing he will never see the truth.<\/p>\n

The other theme is merged into three musical numbers. After meeting with doctors in Bangkok (“La vaginoplasty”) and Tel Aviv (“Lady”), Rita finds a surgeon who agrees to perform the procedure on Emilia after hearing Manitas’ recollections of gender dysphoria during childhood (“Deseo”).<\/p>\n

The numbers explain the transition procedure in graphic detail while reminding the audience of the powerful emotional toll the transition takes on a person.<\/p>\n

The film’s final chapter is an energetic and classic crime thriller with a major reveal of the truth to a significant character. A deadly car chase scene culminates in a fiery explosion and a reminder that rarely can anyone leave the drug cartel circuit alive.<\/p>\n

The release of Emilia Perez in the year 2024, when there is current United States legislation to limit or exterminate transgender rights altogether, is a powerful reminder of why it’s essential to showcase a film like this.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the film’s slew of year-end award nominations has increased viewership and, thus, awareness of this critical topic.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations: 2 wins-<\/strong>Best Picture, Best Director-Jacques Audiard, Best Actress-Karla Sof\u00eda Gasc\u00f3n, Best Supporting Actress-Zoe Salda\u00f1a (won)<\/strong>, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song-“El Mal,” (won)<\/strong> “Mi Camino,” Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound, Best International Film<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emilia P\u00e9rez-2024 Director Jacques Audiard Starring Karla Sof\u00eda Gasc\u00f3n, Zoe Salda\u00f1a, Selena Gomez Scott’s Review #1,455 Reviewed December 15, 2024 Grade: A Emilia P\u00e9rez (2024) is a brilliantly unique film that uses musical numbers to tell the riveting story of a transgender Mexican crime lord, her transition from male to female, and her difficult separation … Continue reading Emilia P\u00e9rez-2024<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4976,6065,192,442,35,213,238,2756,6057,339,122,331,47,188,3589,2893],"tags":[4980,6066,193,443,67,239,2758,6058,123,340,332,250,189,3594,2897],"class_list":["post-20825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-films","category-adriana-paz","category-dramas","category-french-films","category-foreignfilms","category-foreign-dramas","category-foreign-musicals","category-jacques-audiard","category-karla-sofia-gascon","category-lgbt-dramas","category-gay-films","category-lgbt-foreign-language-films","category-musicals","category-musicdramas","category-selena-gomez","category-zoe-saldana","tag-2024-films","tag-adriana-paz","tag-dramas-2","tag-french-films","tag-foreign-language-films","tag-foreign-musicals","tag-jacques-audiard","tag-karla-sofia-gascon","tag-gaylesbian-films","tag-lgbt-dramas","tag-lgbt-foreign-language-films","tag-musicals","tag-music-dramas","tag-selena-gomez","tag-zoe-saldana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20825"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21266,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20825\/revisions\/21266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}