Please note that this article contains spoilers.
Emilia Pérez is a film that defies expectations. Written and directed by French auteur Jacques Audiard who has made romances (Rust and Bone), crime dramas (Dheepan, A Prophet), film noir (The Beat that My Heart Skipped) and westerns (The Sisters Brothers), it mixes all those genres together, chucks in song and dance numbers and an LGBTQ plot for good measure, and comes up with something quite extraordinary.
The film is set in present-day Mexico. Lawyer Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña) successfully defends a client against a murder charge. After an anonymous phone call she meets Manitas, a cartel boss who makes her an extraordinary offer. If Rita will find a surgeon who can provide the gender-realignment surgery Manitas wants, to become the person he thinks he really is, she will receive enough cash to allow her never to work again.
After Rita succeeds in this task, Manitas (or Emilia Pérez as she now calls herself) asks her to arrange for his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and children (whom he misses badly) to go into hiding in Switzerland. Some years later, following a chance meeting with Emilia in London, she is then asked to persuade them to return to Mexico where Emilia now lives. But it’s not long before Emilia’s past catches up with her.
Emilia Pérez is soap on steroids
Does this sound bonkers? Of course; it’s a soap opera on steroids. But however improbable the plot is, the film is carried along by two things: the sheer commitment everyone has to deliver something unforgettable and the quality of the performances.
Zoe Saldaña is excellent as Rita Mora Castro. She is believably terrified at the start, when she is kidnapped and dragged in front of Manitas for her job ‘interview’. She shows real courage at the end where she has to confront the possibility of being killed. In between she acts, sings and dances with verve and panache.
But the centre of the film is Karla Sofía Gascón. She’s a genuine transgender actress who started her career as a telenovela regular in Spain. Here, she carries her role as a proper film star with ease, portraying the emotional challenges she faces with real conviction.
After Emilia sets up a charity to help families of those she murdered, she’s genuinely moved by their reaction. She finds happiness when she forms a relationship with Epifanía (Adriana Paz), one of the grieving mothers. She wrangles with her conscience after discovering Jessi’s infidelity and seems on the verge of wanting to respond as her former self, with awful consequences. Her Best Actress award at Cannes (the first transgender actor to achieve the honour) which she shared with Saldaña, Gomez and Paz, doesn’t feel misplaced.
Emilia Pérez won’t be to everyone’s taste – few films ever are – and the song and dance sequences sometimes feel contrived. But if you want something completely different, an exhilarating ride that sweeps you along with enormous energy and bravura cinematic qualities, you really should see it. It’s now on Netflix and it’s astounding.
