Emilia Pérez (2024) Dir: Jacques Audiard
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Jacques Audiard's musical crime thriller has garnered a lot of awards buzz since it debuted on Netflix in 2024. People sited its trans representation and bold storytelling as reasoning, although there has also been a fair amount of negative criticism. I was excited to watch it, particularly to see if it was as good as some people have said.
It's a bold concept for a film; a musical about a cartel leader who comes out as transgender and wishes to change their ways for the better. It was this concept that intrigued me so - it sounded like it could be wonderful, and some of it genuinely was. I loved the character relationships, they felt intimate and interesting.
The film was snappy and very fast paced, at times, perhaps too much so. It certainly didn't drag at any point. There was a real mix of very good and very bad camerawork, and visuals in general. I liked some of the lighting, but other aspects, such as set design, did not impress me all that much.
I liked the main score, more-so than the musical numbers, if I'm honest. That's not to say, however, that I didn't enjoy them - on the contrary, I liked most of them, with the exception of one or two stinkers, particularly the lawyer and doctor duet. I was a little underwhelmed by the dance choreography - it was all very samey - it lacked uniqueness.
Something I had mixed feelings about the execution was the attempt to put a much needed spotlight on the number of missing people in Mexico - over fifty thousand in the last six years. The idea, on the face of it, was a good one. That said, it just felt very impersonal. I'm not sure if it was because the film used it for shock value or because the film had a non-Mexican director.
There is, however, one huge problem that towers above the rest. Audiard expects the audience to look past the crimes of his film's protagonist because of their newly expressed identity. There was no responsibility taken for the violence and evil that the character has inflicted on people before this film's timeline. Empathy is a powerful tool, but using it, as well as trans and queer representation, to try and circumvent accountability was a mistake.
Karla Sofia Gascón took on a very intimate, very personal, and potentially, for her, very triggering role as this film's leading character. I could really feel the depth of emotion on display from Gascón, who almost certainly felt a connection to the trans-based themes of the film. Some of her singing wasn't quite as good as the rest of her acting, but, on the whole, she acquitted herself well.
Zoe Saldaña truly stole the show, with what can only be described as one of the performances of the year, in my view. She was sublime. Her singing was decent, her execution of choreography was strong, and her facial expressions were highly effective. This was a special supporting performance by Saldaña.
Selena Gomez provided the best, and most significant, of the performances from members of the supporting cast. Her singing, in particular, was very good, in my opinion. The only other two actors who I really felt deserved mentions were Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramírez, neither of whom played particularly large roles.
Overall, I must confess that I liked the concept of the film far more than its execution. It was misguided, as much as anything else. It suffered greatly from its own selective morals, and tried to absolve its main character of their many sins without them ever taking any real accountability for their previous actions. It was a shame for me, but this film goes down as a swing and a miss.
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