Emilia Pérez: LFF Film Review
Emilia Pérez won the Jury Prize and the Best Actress award at Cannes so naturally, it was one of my most anticipated films this LFF.
This Spanish-language musical crime drama, written and directed by Jacques Audiard, stars Zoe Saldana as Rita Moro Castro, a lawyer in Mexico City who a cartel boss hires to help him fake his death and start over as a woman named Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofia Gascón). Years after her transition, Emilia enlists Rita once again to help her reunite with her wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their two sons, under the pretence that she’s the boys’ long-lost aunt.
Audiard takes such a big swing with this movie and you have to respect it. It is bold, audacious and one of a kind. He tries to blend genres and tones and it doesn’t totally work but you have to applaud the ambition. It defies expectations. I mean, I never imagined I’d ever see a musical number where the word “vaginoplasty” is repeated over and over again!
The crime and musical genres sometimes gel well together but often don’t. While I loved Saldana’s opening number, it took me a while to get into the film as I didn’t understand the unusual tone. It really lags in the middle but it picks up again when it becomes a full-on crime drama towards the end. The ending is great!
I don’t love musical numbers where a conversation that could be spoken is sung instead. It just doesn’t do anything for me. Emilia Pérez has a few of those (and I didn’t like them) but also a handful of awesome musical sequences with major production value, choreography and Saldana/Gomez in full musical mode. The standout was a sequence at a fundraising gala led by Saldana. The staging and lighting were excellent, I adored her dance moves, she sounded beautiful and it just popped off the screen. I would have liked more choreographed routines but I always want more of those.
While this is considered an ensemble piece and all four actresses jointly won the Cannes prize (alongside Adriana Paz as Emilia’s love interest), the heart of the film and the star of the show is Saldana. The film may be called Emilia Pérez but I cared more about Rita Moro Castro. I had no idea Saldana was such a talented singer and dancer! After playing supporting characters more recently, it was nice to see her shine in this way.
Gascon, who doesn’t get to sing much, has a more internal and understated role as someone who has to reconcile with her past and Paz has a small but poignant part. This is Gomez like you’ve never seen her before – as a cartel boss’ wife and a mother. We see her speak Spanish and lead some interesting musical numbers.
Emilia Pérez is trying to do too many things at once and they don’t always work in harmony. However, I loved Saldana and most of the musical sequences and I respected the ambition.
Seen at the London Film Festival. In select cinemas on 25th October and on Netflix from 13th November