Nerdly » ‘Emilia Perez’ Review

04th Oct2024

‘Emilia Perez’ Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Zoë Saldaña, Karla Sofia Gascón, Adriana Paz, Selina Gomez, Edgar Ramirez, Mark Ivanir | Written and Directed by Jacques Audiard

Loosely adapted from Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute, Emilia Perez, the new film by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) is a deliriously audacious mash-up of crime thriller, trans drama and musical. It’s also one of the best films of the year.

The story begins in present-day Mexico City, where self-hating paralegal Rita (Zoë Saldaña) is abruptly kidnapped and brought before Mexican drug lord Manitas del Monte (Karla Sofia Gascón), who makes her an offer she can’t refuse. In return for $2m, she is to help Manitas fake his own death, so that he can get gender reassignment surgery and live the rest of his life as a woman, unbeknownst to his young wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their young children.

Rita takes the deal, but some time after the surgery, she’s contacted by newly transitioned Emilia Perez, who’s had a change of heart about being separated from Jessi and the kids, and declares she wants them to all live together in Mexico City, where she will pass herself off as the children’s formerly estranged aunt. Initially, everything works out well and Emilia begins building a new life for herself with a focus on charity work, but complications arise when Jessi (still none the wiser and believing her husband dead) begins a relationship with dodgy gangster Gustavo (Édgar Ramirez). Oh, and all of this happens with the characters bursting into song every so often.

It might seem like an unlikely mash-up, but part of the thrill of Emilia Perez is that Audiard makes all three elements work so perfectly together. The crime story is exciting, the trans drama is genuinely moving and the songs – by nouvelle chanson artist Camille and composer Clément Ducol – range from blackly comic (there’s one called “La Vaginoplastia”) to powerfully emotional.

Indeed, Audiard’s tonal control is nothing short of extraordinary and even when it’s at its most ridiculous (effectively a gangland Mrs Doubtfire with songs, and a dash of Pedro Almodovar), it’s still utterly gripping and emotionally engaging.

Unsurprisingly, a huge part of that is down to a sensational lead performance from trans actress Karla Sofia Gascón, who shared the Best Actress award with the rest of the cast at the Cannes Film Festival. She makes Emilia’s journey riveting throughout, and the script explores thematically resonant ideas of identity and guilt, not least in the way that Emilia is effectively seeking to atone for Manitas’ crimes, having literally killed off that part of herself.

In addition, Saldaña delivers perhaps her career-best performance to date as Rita, forging a fascinatingly complex relationship with Emilia and finding her own redemption in their work together. Similarly, Gomez is terrific as Jessi, though she’s arguably under-used in the first half, before storming back for a belter of a climax. There’s also strong support from Adriana Paz as Epifania (a slightly on-the-nose name choice), a formerly abused housewife who helps inspire Emilia’s charity work and who becomes an important figure in her life.

On top of that, the film looks stunning throughout, courtesy of Paul Guilhaume’s stunning cinematography, and the musical numbers are beautifully staged, thanks to choreographer Damien Jalet and striking costume design by Virginie Montel – you’ll be hard-pressed not to gasp when Saldaña does her first number, and it only gets better from there.

In short, Emilia Perez is a treat from start to finish, a bracingly original, brilliantly directed and wonderfully acted musical thriller that will have you grinning with joy one moment and shedding tears the next. Don’t miss it.