Nominated for 13 Academy Awards, and already the recipient of prizes from multiple outlets including the Golden Globes and the Cannes Film Festival, “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix) is as inventive as it is scandal-plagued and controversial.
However, if you can overlook the hype surrounding it, there are enough noteworthy elements, including innovative musical numbers and outstanding performances by Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez to make it somewhat worth your time.
An example of multi-layered storytelling, “Emilia Pérez” attempts to cover a lot of ground and succeeds for the most part, often in non-traditional ways. Set in present-day Mexico City where honest lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) is working on a case in the corrupt system. After getting a mysterious phone call, which includes a financially beneficial offer, Rita is hooded, abducted, and whisked off to an undisclosed location for a meeting with brutal drug lord Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón, in the first of two roles she plays). He informs Rita that she can earn 12 million dollars if she agrees to take him on as a special client. Her mission? Having already started treatment, Manitas needs Rita to find a good surgeon to perform gender-affirming surgery to complete his transition.
After traveling the globe, Rita finds Dr. Wasserman (Mark Ivanir), a Tel Aviv surgeon who is willing to perform the surgery. With the wheels in motion, Rita meets Jessi (Selena Gomez), Manitas’ wife and the mother of his two sons. Knowing he will be leaving “a great deal” behind, Manitas arranges for Jessi and the kids to be relocated to Lausanne, Switzerland, “for their own safety.” A fake news story on TV, involving the death of Manitas, completes the circle. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Emilia (also Gascón) is recovering from surgery and ready to start her new life.
Four years later, Rita encounters Emilia in London. At first, Rita doesn’t recognize her, but when she does, Rita fears that Emilia is there to kill her as she is the only one who know the truth about her. But it’s more complicated than that. Emilia misses her children and wants Rita to help her concoct a scenario to get them back to her. Jessi is told that Emilia is a distant cousin of Manitas’ living in a mansion in the Las Lomas section of Mexico City, and that he always wanted them to move in with and be cared for by her.
This is where things become even more complicated. Once back in Mexico, Jessi, who was never much of a mother to begin with, reunites with her ex-lover Gustavo (Édgar Ramírez), and neglects her sons. Emilia, reminded of the damage that was done to innocent people in her previous life, starts La Lucecita, a foundation to aid the families of the disappeared. It is through this nonprofit that she meets and then becomes romantically involved with the widow of one of the disappeared. This all takes place long before the dramatic and violent (and too long!) finale.
With more than a dozen musical numbers interwoven throughout the film, “Emilia Pérez” turns out to be a better movie musical than “Wicked.” However, even before word of Gascón’s controversial social media posts surfaced, the movie was plagued by issues surrounding trans representation. Additionally, there is the problem of cultural misinformation, as well as the ignorant things said by French filmmaker and co-screenwriter Jacques Audiard. That said, if you are one of those people who tries to see all the Oscar-nominated movies before the big night, you could do worse. You could watch “Wicked.”
Rating: B-
