Cannes 2024
Emilia Pérez
Mexico and… Audiard. After Les Olympiades in 2021, Jacques Audiard presents his tenth feature film, his sixth in competition at Cannes: Emilia Pérez.
Winner of the Palme d’Or with Dheepan in 2015, the French director returns to the thriller genre reminiscent of A Prophet (2009), but this time in Spanish, with a musical twist, set in Mexico. The film seeks an intriguing blend of crime and soap opera, especially through its music.
Emilia Pérez is a deliberately metacinematic and experimental work, without detracting from the story. It reflects on the film code even more than The Sisters Brothers (2018), shot in English and featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and John C. Reilly. This new film stars Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez, Spanish actress Adriana Paz, and Spanish transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascón as Emilia Pérez.
In a Cannes that has been somewhat dull and lacking in style so far (as of May 18), Audiard’s extroversion is certainly appreciated despite explicit writing weaknesses, evident from the plot: a Mexican drug lord becomes a woman to escape his fate and find himself. Aiding his gender transition is lawyer Rita (Saldaña), who works at a law firm more inclined to cater to criminals than justice. She readily accepts the proposal from the kingpin that can’t be refused. The dream woman he has always wanted to be becomes a reality, with his children and wife (Selena Gomez, whose inability to act is compounded by her Botox-induced facial stiffness) believing him dead and relocated to Lausanne. Emilia then decides it’s time to return to her loved ones in Mexico, bolstered by her new identity. Rita supports her, but environmental challenges arise.
Certainly, the virtuosity of a musical—this one being heterodox—is missing compared to Leos Carax’s Annette, but the soundtrack by singer Camille and her partner, arranger Clément Ducol, stands out, making an auditory and visual impact. Audiard’s work often emphasizes sound, as seen in the temporary deafness in A Prophet and the dissonant audio work in The Sisters Brothers, opening up new stylistic frontiers in this drug trafficking fairy tale.
Audiard’s venture, while often struggling dramatically, benefits from inventiveness and auteur courage, shared in writing with his collaborator Thomas Bidegain. The ultraviolence of drug trafficking is preserved, yet dissipated from within by a dose of whimsical sarcasm and concessions to the frankly improbable.
Except for Gomez, the actors are excellent, giving their all to ensure that Emilia Pérez maintains the audience’s suspension of disbelief and openness to cinema’s transformative power, even if it can’t change the world, it can change oneself, gender, and identity. And… watch out for awards, both here and at the Oscars.
Cinematografo, May 18, 2024
