Last Updated on October 31, 2024 by
Emilia Pérez is a 2024 comedy Movie directed by Jacques Audiard and written by Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, and Nicolas Livecchi. The film stars Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Selena Gomez and will be released on November 1, 2024. It has a runtime of 2 hours 12 minutes.
Emilia Pérez follows the life of Rita Mora Castro, a lawyer portrayed by Zoe Saldaña, who faces professional challenges. She earns just above minimum wage and many of her clients are creepy and intrusive. One day, she receives a strange phone call that informs her about an opportunity to get a large sum of money. This, she says, and when she realizes that the life she has is not as good as she wanted it to be, she desperately looks for a way out to improve her life. The job is from a famous drug lord who reveals an unexpected wish: he desires to transition and be a woman and begin a fresh life as a woman all over again. Rita aids this character, who subsequently transforms into Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón) and vanishes, thus abandoning her previous family and existence.
Four years later, Emilia reappears in Rita’s life with a daring proposition to go back to Mexico, which was Emilia’s previous life. Emilia has future goals of reconnecting with her family, such as her wife Jessie Del Monte portrayed by Selena Gomez, and her children. Having assumed the identity of “Aunt Pérez,” it is not easy for Emilia to integrate her former life with her new existence.
This movie directed by Jacques Audiard, has a similar theme to the director’s previous film, The Sisters Brothers, which was a narrative of two criminal men who are now marked for change after years of violence. However, Emilia Pérez is much faster-paced, and there are times when it appears to be too hurried. This is mostly because there is a lot crammed into the story and it becomes difficult to solely concentrate on Emilia as a character and/or her relationship with the other characters the latter half more so.
There are two relatively underdeveloped aspects in the movie – Emilia’s attempt at rekindling her relationship with her family and her new-found activism. This could have been a chance to explore more profound representations of the victims of violence, for instance, the families of the missing individuals due to crime. However, these characters are rather secondary and occasionally made me feel that the movie is not as realistic as it could be and focus more on the plot.
This movie is also different from other musical films in terms of the kind of music and songs that have been composed by Camille. However, they are not the typical musical numbers; the characters sing songs during the conversations, which is quite untypical. However, not all of these songs are effective. The lyrics can become rather monotonous and aren’t necessarily profound, even when discussing important issues.
For example, in a scene that is set in a hospital in Bangkok learning about gender-affirmation surgery, it only copies phrases rather than learning from them. Some other songs have characters talking about the soul and them trans characters as they comfort the audience by saying, “I’ll always fight for you.” While the movie surely tries to promote some sort of message, it’s regrettably hampered by the writing that comes off as rather bland and equally stilted.
The songs also lack elaborate music videos. Some are shot against plain and back black backgrounds while the fast cross-cutting confuses the dance and movement seen on screen. But still, even during some of the promising moments, such as the neon-lit karaoke bar scene, constant switching from one camera angle to another undermines what Audiard is trying to achieve.
There are some strong visuals due to cinematographer Paul Guilhaume but there are not many options as to where the camera is placed and too many close-up shots of characters. Lighting and colors are frequently low contrast and scenes can be uncomfortably dark at times to the point where it can be difficult to discern details about the environment in key sequences.
The movie tries to be edgy and unconventional, but it is boringly conventional. For instance, Audiard provides the audience with a view of the Mexican streets or Bangkok, which people have been accustomed to observing through the European or American productions that portray ‘’foreign’’ territories. However, it raises recurring issues such as crime and drug violence without adding unique perspectives to the existing conversations. While characters like Emilia and Rita mention the need to alter society, the characters themselves are limited to the representations of women in cinema, and the narrative, at times, can be too mainstream.
Another strength of the film is the cast, especially Karla Sofía Gascón for her portrayal of Emilia. Despite this, Gascón is effective in portraying the deeper layers of Emilia’s personality and the struggle inside her, which was not fully realized in the storyline. Her acting demonstrates Emilia’s resilience and battle within her, which makes the role less artificial and contributes to the storyline.
Nevertheless, even with such a potent acting performance, Emilia Pérez does not revolutionize films about trans characters significantly. Some of the concepts depicted in the story are similar to those found in other movies by non-trans directors, such as concentrating on surgeries and medical aspects which could give an impression that the movie is still based on stereotyped images of trans people.
In conclusion, the thesis that Emilia Pérez has some interesting and fresh ideas but does not offer the audience a new experience has both strengths and weaknesses. Despite the remarkable acting by Rupert Gascón, the film has several flaws, such as the excessive and chaotic narrative, incoherent music, and unoriginal plot. The movie fails to make a grandstanding by not reaching out for the opportunities that it could have taken; nonetheless, Gascón stands out as the movie’s main attraction.
Emilia Pérez 2024 Parents Guide Age Rating
Emilia Pérez is rated R by the Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for language, some violent content and sexual material.
Emilia Pérez PLOT FULL SUMMARY and parents’ guide will be updated closer to the release date (November 1, 2024.), so check back.
