EMILIA PEREZ
directed by Jacques Audiard
Starring Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofia Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir and Édgar Ramírez
I saw the multiple Oscar nominee Emilia Pérez, finally. I didn't LOVE it, but I did enjoy it. Nominated for 13 Oscars at this year's ceremonies, including best picture, best director, best actress, and best supporting actress, it has definitely stirred up the film world.
The story was original, with touches of other south of the border crime stories like Sicario and Traffic, but overlaid with this unique situation of a notorious drug cartel kingpin hiding in plain sight by changing not only their identity, but their gender as well. And by making the real desires and needs of people who are transgender a key part of the drama but not really the main drama itself, the story of Emilia Pérez truly stands out. Ostensibly the story is about reinvention, not only physically but philosophically. It's about whether the things we do today can atone for the things we did yesterday, and how what happens in the dark always comes to the light.
The film begins when Rita Mora, a struggling Mexico City lawyer played by Zoe Saldaña, is coerced by her boss to mount a false defense for their murderous client, which ultimately wins their case. She is immediately contacted by Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón), a notorious underworld kingpin, offering a huge sum of money to help him carry out a very unique mission. Already caught in a mesh of thankless work in a corrupt legal system with no real way to get ahead unless she sinks -- or rises if you will -- to new levels of corruption herself, her sense of disgust and futility sweeps her into the life of the title character.
While the extent of the crimes and atrocities committed by "Manitas" are glossed over, the new Emilia is still a force to be reckoned with, maintaining access to their ill-gotten riches while motivated to help regular people whose loved ones have been disappeared due, we have to assume, to cartel violence. Emilia keeps her identity secret to all but Rita, the lawyer she at first bullies and corrupts and then adopts as her closest friend and confidant. Emilia's motive for changing her sex fulfills a lifelong desire, but also conveniently serves as a smokescreen for Manitas to escape retribution from the law and the people she's wromged or crossed while still a man. Still, this made me wonder about the lives and secrets kept by those who are transgender, people who are forced by society's judgment to keep their reality under wraps or who choose to "dead" their former identities for various reasons and how difficult and painful that must be.
The musical aspect of the film was also unique. While many people are complaining that the music is awful, I thought it added a layer of freshness in terms of revealing the inner emotions and motivations of each character. Rather than being a musical where each song stands on its own and has a catchy hook and pop structure, EP reminded me more of an opera. As a longtime fan of classical and modern opera, I resonated with the exploration of character and furtherance of the story through musical arias, recitatives and choruses that are more about mood and narrative than about singable tunes. In researching my review, I see that French director and composer Jacques Audiard did indeed base the film on his opera libretto of the same name. So my impression that this is an opera is totally on the mark.
Saldaña -- a veteran American actress of Dominican ancestry who once trained as a ballerina -- is extraordinary. She gave us fierceness years ago in 2011's Colombiana, but now we see a completely different character whose every emotion is heartrendingly etched on her face. Her character also requires her to dance and sing, in Spanish and English, and she is mesmerizing. Gascón, who plays the title character, is the first transgender actress to receive an Academy Award nomination. Gascon is compelling as someone with a strong will, whether it is to undergo a medical transition, to safeguard her family, or to make a difference in her community in a way that only she can. And Selena Gomez is appropriately beautiful, unhinged and resentful as a spoiled Mexican mafia wife who realizes too late what is really going on. Apparently, Gomez had to brush up on her Spanish to play the role.
While the Oscars have given it the most accolades possible with nominations, there is also backlash, by those who complain that it's not a real musical, it does not accurately or fairly represent Mexican life, that none of the leads are in fact Mexican (Saldaña and Gomez are American, Gascón was born and raised in Spain), that it wasn't even shot in Mexico (mostly shot in France). I say get over yourselves. This is a surreal dramatic fantasy, not a documentary.
In fact, this story is operatic on several levels; it is really "The Tragedy of Emilia Pérez" told from the point of view of Saldana's character, much in the way that the character of Che reveals the story of Evita Peron in the rock opera Evita. Tragedies only end one way, and they are supposed to teach us something about human nature. If you don't get the lesson, fine. That reveals something about your nature.
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