Film Review | ‘Emilia Pérez’ Is an Audaciously Over-the-Top Original
A Big, Bold Opera of a Film Featuring Fine Performances
Zoe Saldaña in ‘Emilia Perez’ | Photo: Netflix
An incredible roller coaster of a film, I can easily imagine Bill Hader’s Stefon character from Saturday Night Live describing Emilia Pérez: “It’s got drug kingpins, drag queens, courtroom drama, characters returning from the dead, a Bonnie and Clyde–level kidnapping, but it’s also a family drama, a story of female empowerment, an exploration of family dynamics, of violence and redemption. Oh, and did I also mention it’s mostly in Spanish and it’s also a musical adjacent piece of spoken-word poetry with some strong operatic vibes!”
I kid you not.
In other words, Emilia Pérez is fabulously unlike any film you’ve ever seen. It’s a LOT. And it’s definitely not for everybody. But for me, it’s one of the most compelling, refreshing, and original pieces of cinema I’ve seen.
At a Santa Barbara International Film Festival Cinema Society screening on October 26, French Writer/Director Jacques Audiard — yes, he’s French and the film is in Spanish because, as he explained, the story demanded it — the original idea for the film came from a book called Écoute [Listen], with a character who is a drug kingpin who wants to transition to become a woman. But the development of the character into one of three key women in the film — played by Karla Sofía Gascón (Manitas Del Monte and Emilia Pérez), Zoe Saldaña (Rita Mora Castro, Manitas’s lawyer), and Selena Gomez (Jessi Del Monte, Manitas’s wife) — ultimately evolved into the creation of a telenovela-style fantasy version of Mexico with an over-the-top dose of operatic drama to contrast with the intimate emotions the three main characters experience. The stars collectively (with co-star Adriana Paz, who has a pivotal but much smaller role) and deservedly won Best Actress at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
The deceptively campy style of the plot doesn’t diminish the seriousness of what these women go through, but the film definitely walks a tightrope in terms of tone, which is what makes their performances so impressive.
Without giving too much of this delicious and outrageous fever dream away, let me say that through song, dance and bold visuals, Emilia Pérez tells the story of some remarkable women trying to pursue happiness in their own ways, in some pretty wild circumstances. And Emilia Pérez is absolutely one of the most original pieces of film you’ll see this year. Don’t miss it.
Zoe Saldaña, who will be honored at SBIFF with the American Riviera Award on February 7, gives a particularly fabulous performance as the most grounded character in the film. I’m looking forward to hearing what she has to say about working on this groundbreaking film, currently playing at the Riviera Theatre and coming to Netflix on November 13. View the trailer here and see the SBIFF interview with writer/director Jacques Audiard and composers Camille and Clément Ducol here.
