From everything I heard or read about Emilia Pérez earlier this year, no one really clarified what type of film they saw or anything of substance about it. So it’s been a mystery; I barely knew who was in it, which led to a pretty wild, surprising viewing of a film. Emilia Pérez starts with Zoe Saldaña as Rita Mora Castro, a lawyer who stagnated in her job because of her lack of options to progress, being overlooked, and having to help terrible people get away with terrible things. After winning the case, she is summoned to meet with a cartel boss to help them transition. Right there, I knew this was going to be a different experience and a different type of film. Also, at this point, there have already been two songs; yeah, it’s a musical as well. The boss, Manitas, has a family – a wife and children. His wife is named Jessi, played by Selena Gomez, and she is sent to Switzerland with their children as Rita finds the right doctor to help Manitas. After this is completed, four years have passed, and Manitas’ identity is killed when Emilia Pérez is born, and they run into Rita again. Emilia and Rita establish a close friendship as Emilia wants to do things to help her community instead of the things they did to gain their wealth at the cost of terrorizing it.
The film really jumps around and dances through so many different genres, tones, and themes, yet it feels like they all fit together perfectly. I don’t know for others, but for me, this film is Zoe’s; while she’s not the titular character, most of the film goes through their journey and a lot of their perspective on the world. Her relationship with Emilia and Emilia’s family and work is a significant change in her life that will help her become the person she wants to become. Saldaña shows off her multifaceted chops on screen with acting, dancing, and singing. She gets overlooked a lot even though she’s in all these vast box office super hits because she’s playing some type of alien. In many regards, she’s the one who holds those films together and is the reason why they work. Also, it was great to see her play an Afro-Latin woman who speaks Spanish. I must say I enjoyed that for Selena Gomez as well. As I’m not wholly familiar with everything she’s done, even if I’m aware of it all, she was quite good here in this supporting role.
Karla Sofía Gascón is as captivating as Emilia Pérez, a person wanting to finally be who they feel they should’ve always been but learning that their true self includes parts of both lives. Her performance of a person who also wants to make up for their past is a bit haunting as they also seem to know they are trying to outrun karma and they will fail. She has a great onscreen dynamic with Saldaña. The visual aesthetics of the film’s use of color and lighting add significantly to the storytelling and the fantastical at time reality of this film. There are times when the film’s tone reminds me of that of a telenovela and then goes into operatic scope. It feels like the musical scenes are formed for the actress and the character the perspective is from. Jacques Audiard did a fantastic job of writing and directing this epic tale of loves, lives, truth, and redemption, and if you have the opportunity to see Emilia Pérez in the theater, go. The film will be worth watching on Netflix at home as well.
Score: B+
