Emilia Pérez movie review: Jacques Audiard’s audacious new film is like a cross between Chachi 420 and Dog Day Afternoon

Like its protagonist, who harbours a secret desire to become a woman, the movie takes many shapes and forms. The transitions aren’t always seamless; the filmmaking is brash, confrontational, and immensely confident. But there are also moments of tenderness, like the one in which two characters sing softly at each other about acceptance and denial. And then, there are the more exuberant scenes, like the one in which a character snarls at the privileged about paying their dues.

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Zoe Saldana in a still from Emilia Perez.

Zoe Saldaña plays a lawyer named Rita, whose moral compromises at work push her into frustration and resentment. After arguing yet another case towards a dissatisfying end, Rita receives a phone call from a cartel boss named Manitas, who gives her an unusual task: finding a surgeon willing to covertly perform gender-affirming surgery. Rita travels across the world, from Bangkok to Tel Aviv, where, after singing a song about being broad-minded, she convinces a doctor to do the deed. Manitas is reborn as Emilia Pérez, played by the trans actor Karla Sofía Gascón.

Meanwhile, Manitas’ family — wife Jessi and two children — are flown to Switzerland, where they live for five years under the assumption that Manitas has been killed in a gang war. Rita helps carry out the ruse. She changes considerably in these years, shedding the shabby pantsuits that she wore in Mexico City for sleek shirts in London. One evening, while chatting with friends over some drinks, she bumps into Emilia. Regretful over how she handled things with her family — especially her children — Emilia asks to be reunited with them. Under the guise of a long-absent aunt, she invites Jessi and the kids to live with her. She also displays remorse for her past crimes, and with Rita’s help, sets up an NGO to rehabilitate the wives of gang members slain by her cartel.

There is a grungy quality to Emilia Pérez — this isn’t a technicolour musical; it’s all jagged edges and jarring tonal shifts. While Gascón and Saldaña make for a plucky pair of leads, Selena Gomez proves to be a wildcard as Jessi, Manitas’ long-suffering wife. It is, however a bit odd that Gomez — the only bona fide singer of the trio — doesn’t get an opportunity to belt out a banger. Her two numbers are mostly muted, while Saldaña gets a couple of show-stoppers to herself. Gascón, on the other hand, gets a memorable number in which one of Emilia’s children appears to sniff out the truth, quite literally.

Audiard, who has made movies about reinvention before, has never been this audacious. Ironically, his last film was a relatively staid black-and-white drama about young love. Emilia Pérez is unruly. It demands to be seen, heard, and believed. That being said, it seems to have ruffled some feathers for its depiction of the trans experience. Those who are more knowledgeable about these matters have suggested that separating Emilia’s personalities into a binary isn’t the most sensitive thing that Audiard could’ve done. However, there is no mistaking the empathy that he feels for not only Emilia, but also Rita and Jessi — three women who independently take control of their lives after cowering in self-preservation.

Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña in a still from Emilia Perez.

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For a musical, however, the songs in Emilia Pérez aren’t exactly memorable. But Audiard’s staging often is. From the first track to the last, the filmmaker is consistently able to tap into these characters’ anxieties and ambitions with his striking camerawork, dynamic lighting, and, of course, the terrific performances of his three stars. Emilia Pérez sings, and so does the film.

Emilia Pérez
Director – Jacques Audiard
Cast – Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez
Rating – 3.5/5