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Rita (Zoe Saldana) is a dissastified lawyer in Mexico. She gets kidnapped by a mob boss who has an unusual request. Jessi (Selena Gomez) is the mob wife. Karla Sofía Gascón plays Emilia Pérez.

I felt obligated after the 13 Oscar nominations. With all the previous buzz, I would have gotten to it eventually. That obligation may not have put me in the right mood. Neither does the musical. Oh yeah! Surprise! It's a musical. I am getting a little tired of the surprise musical. The songs are a bit darker. This is no Disney singalong. As for actors, I don't know Karla. She has some acting power. The Americans are doing Spanish which I rarely see them do. I don't speak it. I can't judge any of that or quite frankly the dialogue. I would only say that this should be Emilia's story from start to finish. She is the center and the most interesting character. I have nothing against Zoe Saldana. She's a great actress, but this really should start with Emilia. The story has a bit too much Mrs. Doubtfire. I don't want to demean it, but it does keep popping up in my mind. This movie is taking big swings. The problem is that it misses more than hits.

Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) wants to get out of the drug business by changing his sex, meaning he wants to become a woman. Even though by doing that he is risking his own family. But what does it matter anyway. He enlists the help of laywer, Rita (Zoe Zaldana).

What follows is a pointless series of cringe inducing events that lead to an anti-climactic and worthless ending.

Karla Sofía Gascón's non existent Mexican accent is awful. Her Spanish accent greatly shows. There were a lot of other possible and well capable Mexican actresses of taking upon the role of Manitas but the role went to a relatively high profile actress, who is a transgender in real life as well. Apart from her terrible attempt at mimicking an actual Mexican accent from the Ciudad de Mexico region, she's doing okay at playing the character she was assigned to. At least she omitted the "th's".

Zoe Zaldana's origin isn't Mexican, she's actually Dominican, but her accent represents, somewhat at least, a Latin American one. She's by far the most interesting actress and she has experience with being in high profile productions. She is convincing at playing the empathetic and helpful lawyer that desires a positive change for her local community.

Selena Gomez's accent and gravitas is non-existent. She's stumbling and terrible at doing a Latin American Spanish accent as she was born in the States and thus her native language isn't Spanish. She can't act either for the most part.

The movie is part drama part musical and horrible at both. It's baffling to see so many wins and nominations that it got. This movie has some very peculiar things going on. A French director that clearly wasn't that invested in the Mexican culture filmed the movie in France anyway and made it part musical and part drama. The musical scenes are for the most part just, bad and ridiculous.

At an attempt to win awards, this movie was born and sadly got some of them in the end, without clearly deserving of them. The end.

I love Saldana, and I believe she did the best she could with her role in this film, at times deeply moving. So this is not an attack on the star. Nor is it criticism of the rest of the cast, the writer, director, etc. I was thrilled to hear the hype, read about the nominations, etc. So I settled down for a great time with this movie. And I was stunned and disappointed, not by the alleged brilliance of the production but by how deeply flawed the whole thing is. Others here have gone into extensive detail about the flaws treated as brilliance. In fact, they are not. No matter how many more great reviews and major awards, the film is a pretense of being something it is not. Just because writer, director, actors, etc attempt something complex and artistic in that complexity does not mean they succeeded: if the film does not work. It does not. And it is a disappointment because we believed the hype and wanted to believe this is a new masterpiece to love and watch again for all that complexity and experimentation. In fact-there is no greatness nor beauty but only the confused mess of people who wanted the experiment to be the art they were after. It isn't.

Much like the Mexican cartel boss and his/her/their confused identity, the movie can't quite figure out what it wants to be either.

Granting it the status of a musical in the same year that saw the release of Wicked is like calling The Shining a dramedy. Neither is it a rock opera (despite Selina Gomez' and Zoe Saldana's best efforts), but with no memorable songs to sing along to, the movie is best when it sticks to the drama.

And it's a terrific concept: a tough-as-nails cartel boss that has always identified as a woman seeks a sex change and a new start in life. But while you can take the cartel boss out of the picture, you can't make the violent manipulator disappear quite as easily.

That should have been enough to hang a movie on, but director Jacques Audiard has to "auteur things up," flitting between genres, locales, lyrics and plot lines with the abandonment of a twink at a Bangkok sex change emporium where everything is on the menu (probably the best example of a scene included for no real purpose).

With so many issues, it's no wonder Audiard opts to just blow it all up in a rather cartoonish way, rather than allow his characters to discover a way through the mess. After all, with a little harder work, our future shouldn't have to be defined by our past - nor would this movie have to be defined by its shortcomings.

And now I'm also going to be mad with the French Oscars committee for naming this instead of All We Imagine as Light.

First things first. The obsession with everything that assaults our senses. With the loud. With the fast. With the chaos. Yesterday I saw Anora (a better experience but still annoying) and today this, but it's all a consequence of the chaotic world we live in, with everything and everyone shouting. People need to shout to be listened and we are all shouting all the time. Now even in movies.

This film has style and strong performances. It also has ridiculous musical numbers that almost made me want to hide from the cringe. There are good scenes. But it also has inexplicable script choices. There are characters that are thrown in without context, lacking development, but that are there to - literally - carry the final flag.

The fundraising dinner scene is a musical number that will stick in memory and is fantastic, but I can't help thinking about how this film fails utterly in what should be its emotional strengths, never delving deeply into anything because it's always in a rush to add something more to an already oversaturated script. I have many doubts about several of the messages, but above all I felt that not even their writers know what they wanted to say.

I don't have the vitriol some have towards Emilia Pérez, but it's a muddled and ill-advised effort from director Jacques Audiard for the most part. Don't get me wrong: the direction isn't dreadful as he can decently stage a dance sequence and create an atmosphere but happens occasionally. Like most people, most of my issues revolve around the horrible screenplay. It has a starting point with some potential but proceeds to fumble it with weak plotting and underwhelming personal dynamics between the characters. For a film called Emilia Pérez, it spends way too much time on Rita, who doesn't do anything interesting and the development of Jessi is messily written. Also, there's no reason for this to be a musical as the songs range from forgettable to straight-up bad. It has a tonal whiplash that's baffling. And that ending is a complete trainwreck and flop. The sad part is that - outside of Selena Gomez (she was okay) - the performances from the ladies are excellent, particularly Karla Sofía Gascón. Some of the best parts involved the titular character and Epifanía. I wish that the writing was better. I also wish that it involved Emilia and her journey.

What's with the Oscars these past years and the musical genre? I just saw Wicked and wrote a review talking about the fact that I am not a fan of the genre, and while there some exceptions, I don't feel this type of films translate that well in cinema as they did years ago... I guess this movie has other issues other than that but come on, the line between ridiculous and fine is really thin in musicals, while in a film like Wicked I can get my head around the fact that I am seeing a bunch of people spontaneously singing during a normal conversation, a story involving violence and Mexican cartels it's just borderline absurd!

I do feel this was a missed opportunity, I applaud the fact that it is a Spanish speaking film, I like this trend of Hollywood giving spotlight to non-English movies, I applaud the acting of both Zoe and Karla and I applaud the representation, telling a story of a trans person being depicted by a trans actor without the movie being preachy about it.

However the execution was completely messed up!

Taking aside that this is a musical where cartel violence, murder and kidnapping are the center piece, why would they have us try to empathize with someone that's a cartel leader, who has done some of the worse atrocities most likely (that conveniently are not explored) that a human can do, yet we should just simply forget and accept her new life?

I saw some reviews coming from Mexican people being offended about the cartel depiction and use of stereotypes, I don't blame them, they could've done a similar story in a completely different set and why not hire more Mexican actors for the main parts? I am not saying that it should be a full Mexican cast but Selena barely speaks Spanish, I am Portuguese but I can clearly hear the accent and it's completely broken, not close to any kind of native Spanish..

Plus some characters story lines are dubious, why does Zoe's character keeps being around Emilia after her mission was done? Was her friendship that strong? We don't see they natural evolution on the screen? It feels forced.

I am not confident for the Oscars this year in terms of the kinds of stories in the nominated movies, I hope to be wrong but it's not a good start..

As the title says, I dont get whats all the hype about this movie. Ignoring for a while all the controversy of how Mexico is badly picture.

To me it lacks a lot of comedy, better music, better plot, better acting, etc. Not even mention that sometimes the spanish is unintelligible (I am a native speaker), this could be understand in Selena Gomez case but I swear to god I heard parts of the movie that other characters misconstruct spanish sentences.

The way they almost transform everything into music is annoying, specially cause a lot of the songs arent that great.

I do think that Zoe Saldaña´s performance saves the movie a bit.

I got to see this in the theater as part of one of the best picture films which I'm kinda shocked it's up for so many awards. I guess the inclusive aspect is so important these days and the drama was great! Definitely mixed vibes I enjoyed some of it although not a fan of musicals out of the nominated ones Wicked is better for that.

Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez and the other one that played Emila were awesome! Wild how much hate this has received despite award praise, it's got so many genres and a fair amount of mess for the last half. I'm glad I was able to see in the theater that was nice fun.

While it is an interesting departure from the norm, combining a musical with a crime drama as well as a transgender cartel leader, I cannot say that this film deserves the accolades it has received. The story itself is patently ridiculous and episodic. Zoe Saldana acting is decent, but the rest of the acting is sub-par. Gascon's performance as the cartel leader is not worthy of the critical acclaim she has received, and I was very disappointed with Selana Gomez's performance as the wife of the leader - it is wooden and uninteresting. Therefore, I cannot recommend this film, and I certainly hope it does not win any awards. 5/10.

Emilia Perez" had all the makings of an intriguing story, but it ultimately fell short of its potential. The plot itself was promising, exploring complex themes and a unique narrative. However, the decision to present this story as a musical film somewhat undermined its seriousness, making it difficult to fully engage with the characters and their struggles.

One of the major issues was the portrayal of Emilia. The character didn't align with her past, making her transformation seem less about the journey of a transgender individual and more like an entirely different person. This disconnect made it difficult to connect with and understand her on a deeper level.

While the musical elements brought some moments of entertainment, they often felt out of place in a story that required a more grounded and nuanced approach. The result was a film that never quite found its footing and failed to hook me until the end.

Jacques Audiard's "Emilia Pérez" attempts to merge musical elements with crime drama and themes of identity, but unfortunately fails to live up to its ambitious premise. The film ends up being a dull and meaningless experience that offers nothing new, neither as a piece of art nor as entertainment.

The Musical Aspect: An Unnecessary Burden

The musical sequences, seemingly intended to lighten emotional tension or enhance character depth, feel unnecessary and, at times, awkward. They often disrupt the narrative flow and add a sense of theatricality that detracts from the film's more serious themes.

Weak Plot Development

The storyline unfolds in a slow and convoluted manner. The conflicts and interactions between characters feel superficial, leaving the central themes and messages underdeveloped and incomplete. The characters' motivations are poorly explained, making it hard to connect with or care about them.

Lack of Substance

The film lacks the artistic or emotional depth one might expect from such a format. Despite the variety of themes it attempts to tackle, "Emilia Pérez" ultimately leaves the audience with nothing of value-no lasting questions, no new emotions, no meaningful impact.

Final Thoughts

"Emilia Pérez" had the potential to be a compelling and thought-provoking story, but instead, it ends up being a waste of time. If you're looking for a film that delivers emotions or artistic depth, this one is likely to disappoint.

It's always sad to see someone wearing yesterday's clothes and preening like they're still hip, which is an apt metaphor for the critical response to this quasi-musical dramedy. The title character is a Mexican cartel boss who enlists the help of a lawyer to transition from a Latinx to a Latinx. And kudos to the filmmakers for working the word "vaginoplasty" into a showtune that wasn't written for a Disney production. To be fair I didn't give this my undivided attention; my wife had it on while I was assembling a bookshelf. I chuckled a few times, cringed a few more times and promptly forgot about it as soon as it ended. It wasn't awful; but a bunch of Oscar nominations? C'mon, is Hollywood even trying to pretend that awards shows are anything other than a bad joke at this point?

I'll start with the positives: the storyline is good. I think that in different hands this could have been a fantastic movie that calls attention to missing and murdered individuals and tells a beautiful tale of someone becoming their best (thought still flawed) self and trying to correct the sins of their past.

Unfortunately, it was not in such hands. The dialogue was terrible, the songs were laughable, and the singing was mid at best, horrendous at worst. The actors all did a wonderful job with the material they were given, but I really don't know how any of them were able to keep a straight face. The dialogue issue could be attributed to the amount of translation being done here. I watched it as a movie written (I presume) in French, translated to Spanish, and then subbed in English. That's a lot of translating, which may have impacted the dialogue as perceived by me. It was also a musical for absolutely no reason so far as I can tell. Which I suppose could be said of all musicals, but this would have been far more effective as a drama.

I give it a 5 because the acting was good, the story was good, but the writing and singing were terrible. I also took issue with the fact that Emilia was misgendered throughout the entire first act. Once we find out who she is, she shouldn't have to undergo surgical procedures before being referred to using her correct pronouns. Definitely not deserving of the awards it's received. Not even close to the best musical of the past year, and definitely not the best movie overall.

I think I can put the reason I watched this movie down to sheer morbid curiosity. That and 13 Oscar nominations and the controversy that came with persuaded me that this was something I had to see with my own eyes. In the end? I didn't hate it but I didn't think it was particularly good either.

Some movies just shouldn't be musicals and this is absolutely one of those cases. All of the musical sequences are shot and staged in the flattest way possible. They're basically just shot like standard dialogue scenes and they just came across as lazy ways to exposit the characters back stories. It doesn't really succeed as a musical or an an examination of cartel violence and there isn't really any one character to root for. The performances are solid but with one of them being a former kingpin the script and by extension all of the other characters just seem to excuse that and it made them all that bit more unlikable to me. I suppose the film is unique which I can give it credit for but I would probably appreciate it more if it wasn't such a bore to get through.

I know many have found this film offensive but as someone who's not apart of the classes this film examines I can't really comment on that. What I can say though is that I fully agree that this isn't really worthy of all the nominations the academy has buried it in. I thought it was a perfectly mediocre experiment of a movie that didn't do much of anything for me.

There's no doubt a lot that can be examined and discussed with this film. For me it was incredibly difficult to rate because there are features of it that I found unique and very compelling while other aspects were just so over the top and damaging that I couldn't decide on how to weight it all. Therefore I put it as a passing score as something that is worth a watch if not only to see and assess for yourself what is no doubt an incredibly unique piece of cinema.

First of all, the most compelling aspect of the film is the characters struggles with personal decision making. Every decision the characters make there is an overwhelming impact on those around them. This movie as well as any I've seen shows these impacts extremely well. The actors do an incredible job expressing the emotions associated with the impact it has on their characters lives. The cast itself feels very cohesive in telling this story.

I'm still undecided on whether or not the musical aspect of it is necessary. There are some parts it helps emphasize the emotional struggle and some where it just feels way too excessive and potentially crossing a line for other reasons mentioned below.

The major downside for me about this film , and one that is clearly a massively huge problem for many others as well , is presenting this entire story within the context of Mexican drug cartels. If the emotions of the characters feel so real the story itself feels just the opposite. Nobody ever questions where Emilia's funds come from for the charity, the motivations, how to find all the mass burial sites, access to information, etc.

In many ways the story downplays a huge humanitarian crisis in Mexico. At the end of the day, despite the challenges faced , Emilia was previously a major cartel kingpin and murderous criminal responsible for thousands of lives lost.

In that sense the film didn't bother to really examine this reality nearly enough in my view. There was one small scene where a mother presents a pamphlet about her lost son where Emilia shows a sense of remorse, but this needed to be expanded on. Further, the fact that Rita the lawyer ( Zoe Saldana) was so disturbed at the start of the film about defending and helping someone get off for murder who she knew was guilty (which in fact was a professional requirement of hers to provide a defense for ) and yet did not in many ways struggle at all to continue freely working alongside Emilia who was responsible for mass atrocities to me was discomforting and conflicting.

In the way that it only presented Emilia as a victim was troubling and problematic. I don't have a problem with someone recognizing their past mistakes and doing what they can to change and try to make up for that past as best they can. However, the film chooses to gloss over the recognition of those past decisions much too quickly. In this way I found it quite disrespectful of the very real problem of drug cartel violence and the hundreds of thousands of lives its cost in present day Mexico. In reading others critiques, I strongly agree on this aspect.

In summary, I thought the characters were interesting. Some of the acting I found incredible, particularly Zoe Saldana. Her range for acting is astounding. Not many can go from Guardians of the Galaxy to this style of film and pull off both so exceptionally well. However, as clearly stated above , the film has some huge pitfalls and I wonder how this will impact its fate at the Oscar's.

Emilia Pérez is a bold, genre-defying experience that caught me completely off guard-in the best way possible. What begins as a grounded legal drama quickly transforms into something far more surprising, blending thriller, musical, and emotional character study with a confidence that's rare and thrilling to witness.

The heart of the film lies in its characters, particularly the transformative journey of Emilia herself. Her story is one of identity, redemption, and the search for truth in a world built on silence and performance. The film navigates these themes with empathy, never reducing its characters to symbols, but honoring them as complex, living people.

Visually and tonally, it's daring-sometimes surreal, often striking-and the musical elements add a layer of emotional intensity I didn't expect but deeply appreciated. Emilia Pérez isn't just a film; it's an emotional reckoning dressed as something wildly entertaining. I left it feeling shaken, surprised, and quietly moved.

Emilia Pérez is a 2024 Spanish language French musical crime comedy film written and directed by Jacques Audiard. The French production is based on Audiard's opera libretto of the same name, which was in turn loosely adapted from Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute. The film stars Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir, and Édgar Ramírez.

It is musical drama featuring a cartel leader's journey of gender transformation. The story follows Emilia, who enlists lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) to fake her death and navigate her transition, leading to unexpected emotional encounters and a nonprofit initiative to aid families affected by cartel violence.

Movie is packed with powerful performances, particularly from Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia, earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Leading Actress. Zoe Saldaña brings pause to her role as Emilia's lawyer, she was ambitious but not careless showcasing a blend of strength and vulnerability towards herself and her work. She won golden globe for this.

Audiard's direction is ambitious yet polarizing, blending operatic elements with a chaotic narrative structure.

Overall Emilia Pérez addresses themes of identity and gender through its central character's transformative journey. The movie explores embracing true self, challenging traditional gender norms.

Great subjects and story but poor execution if it was just a drama movie not musical it could had done better.

First and foremost, this is a French film about Mexico - but not actually IN it. While filming a work where location fits better with the creators' capabilities is nothing new (just this year, The Brutalist shot postwar United States in Hungary) Emilia Perez is in on another level for disregarding the input of the country's people so thoroughly that all of its songs were written in French and then machine-translated into Spanish, leading to justified opprobium from the entire Latin America.

Likewise, though Karla Sofia Gascon actually is trans, none of the writers were and the internet isn't short on takes on why it's a problem. I'll just say the depiction fell flat for me (and I had something like 2001's By Hook or by Crook for my frame of reference) - and it didn't help that not only the film never convincingly reckons with the character's crimes but the way the operation was supposedly kept secret was full of holes.

In general, the entire Manitas cartel is a cardboard prop to the point the film does not even to bother to establish who took over after Emilia disappeared under that formal identity. Saldana's Rita changes her mind so often on whether or not it's acceptable to benefit from the proceedings of crime, she comes across like a weathervane. It doesn't help that the main plot relies on the contrivance I saw in too many others - the assumption you could drop characters separately from each other, skip years ahead, and then barely anything would change and they would fail to form new connections in spite of having every reason to. And what serves as the climatic conclusion here is one of the most ludicrous endings of the year.

And yet, and yet and YET.... I would be lying if I didn't say this kept me engaged throughout. First, second and third, Zoe Saldana is a veritable force of nature in this role and the sheer energy she brings to every musical performance is hard to describe in words. Further, the cinematography of every one of those numbers is INCREDIBLY strong, at times reminiscent of the best of Indian cinema musical numbers such as the incredibly complex combinations of hundred or so scenes in Premalu's songs. In particular, the haunting shot at the conclusion of "Para" beats any other scene in any other Best Picture nominee this year hands down. And while I found the handling of the timeskip poor, the film still has, on the whole, a substantially better-defined cast than nearly everything it is competing against.

Hence, Emilia Perez is deeply flawed film - but in my view, so is practically everything the Academy chose to put up against it this year, in spite of many better alternatives being present. I.e. Whether you are Mexican, LGBTQ or anyone else, it is massively hypocritical to say this film romanticizes cartels yet turn around and praise Anora (the film) when Anora the character sees nothing wrong with taking advantage of equivalent scumbags' wealth and the script never depicts that as a failing. Same when one attacks this film for, say, referring to something like a jury (non-existent in Mexican courts) yet gives a pass to Conclave's Cardinals being ignorant of the basics of their faith. (Even worse is to attack this yet defend the abomination of anti-history that is Gladiator II.) The Brutalist takes an important real-life architect who had been established in the U. S. for many years and replaces him with a caricature of a newly arrived immigrant while trivializing heroin abuse. Dune: Part 2 greatly dumbs down the book, turning the Harkonnens from corrupt, depraved yet scarily intelligent indictments of Roman-style nobility into pale Sith rip-offs who understand nothing but violence. The Substance can't decide whether its protagonist is an experienced talent who led a popular show for many years or a naive airhead who cannot count, is still surprised at >50 years of age that young guys are shallow and would rather stick newspapers to a massive window in her penthouse instead of buying curtains. And A Complete Unknown has so little to say and so inferior to Better Man or Kneecap or even Piece by Piece (all musical biopics from the same year) that spotlighting it is practically inexplicable to me.

In all, I'm cautiously waiting to see Nickel Boys and I'm Still Here to give me something to affirmatively root for, not just stick with the best of the flawed options as is currently the case for me and Wicked.

Emilia Pérez boasts phenomenal acting and a powerful cast, no doubt. The performances were raw, emotional, and gripping-especially Selena Gomez's scene, which truly stole the show. That moment hit hard, not just because of the heartbreak, but because it unintentionally highlighted a real, urgent issue: the way criminals manipulate the system to escape justice while their victims are left to suffer, waiting for a day that may never come.

At first, I thought the story was setting up something deep, powerful, and important-a commentary on how money and power buy freedom for the guilty while the innocent are left to pick up the pieces. I was ready for a film that exposed the corruption, fought for justice, and showed real redemption.

But instead, what we got was a selfish criminal indulging in blood money, using it for personal desires, and then throwing a few scraps at victims-not even his own victims, mind you, just enough to feel like a "good person" without actually paying for his crimes. That's not transformation. That's just self-serving guilt relief.

And that's the real tragedy of this film-it had the potential to shed light on a real problem but instead chose the easy way out. This wasn't about justice. It wasn't about fixing anything. It was about someone repackaging themselves while keeping the benefits of their past life. That's not change-that's just a new costume.

The real message this movie should have sent? The kind of energy he put into transforming himself should be the kind of energy we all put into transforming our world, our system, and ourselves-not for personal gain, but to actually make the world a better place.

If you're looking for fantastic acting, emotional moments, and a film that almost asks the right questions, this movie delivers. But if you're looking for true redemption, justice, or a story that actually tackles the problems it presents? You won't find it here.