Movie Review: Emilia Pérez

Can a movie be kind of a mess and still work? Most of the time the answer to that question is a resounding no, but in the case of Jacques Audiard’s latest, Emilia Pérez, it turns out to be yes. Yes it can.

Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña) is an attorney in Mexico City whose talents go unrecognized by her bosses. Immediately after she helps win a high profile case for which she receives no acknowledgment, she receives a mysterious phone call from a man who promises to make her rich if she meets him by a newsstand outside the courthouse. Reluctantly she agrees only to have armed men put a hood over her head and drive her away in an SUV.

She is driven to the mobile base of violent cartel kingpin Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), who explains that he wants to pay her a huge amount of money to help him transition into a woman. Since she has no medical training she questions how she can do so, and he tasks her with finding a reputable surgeon somewhere in the world outside of Mexico or the United States where he can safely hide away afterwards, and gives her free access to his vast fortune to do so. Rita locates a suitable doctor and Manitas becomes Emilia Pérez and stages Manitas’ death, leaving his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and two children distraught.

Four years later, Rita is now very successful and living in London when Emilia unexpectedly arrives back in her life, happy but longing to once again see her children. Emilia convinces Rita to help reunite the family in Mexico, telling them that she is a distant cousin of Manitas’ who wants to help raise the children. As you can imagine this is a misguided idea and it puts in motion a chain of events that can only end in tragedy.

Since it is presented in the form of an operetta there are frequent musical numbers, all of which are at least moderately catchy but few of which will wind up on many Spotify playlists. The more upbeat tracks are often accompanied by flashy choreography and more stage-like set decoration. They all look good and give the film a unique personality, even if they sometimes feel out of place when contrasted with the grittier and more naturalistic feel of everything around them. And the elaborate number that is used to represent Rita’s search for a physician in particular feels more than a little bit misguided.

Audiard’s screenplay tackles a lot of ground, probably more than it can reasonably be expected to, and as such parts of it work better than others, though as a whole it’s still a satisfying story. Aside from the aforementioned song and dance involving the hunt for a doctor, the movie does a decent job of handling parts of the trans experience, and really makes the viewer feel for Emilia. Her handling of her transition is done with little regard for the damage she might leave in her wake, but it feels in line with a character who has spent years executing those who have stood in their way and not intended to be representative of the entire trans community. Gascón is fantastic in the role, suitably menacing at times, endearing and practically saintly at others, always with a hint of pain simmering just below the surface.

Gomez also gets to show her range in a part that gives her more to chew on than her prior roles. As Rita, Saldaña actually has the largest role in the movie and is also granted several big moments that she handles spectacularly. It’s a shame then that her character is only allowed to feel anything in as much as it relates to Emilia or Jessi, only briefly being allowed to acknowledge her own needs and effectively being denied any opportunity for growth.

Tackling loneliness, identity, corruption, and of course love, and singing its way through much of it, Emilia Pérez is a wild swing of a movie. By blending a Shakespearean tragedy into a musical into a tender drama into a narco-thriller, Audiard has crafted one of the year’s most unusual and memorable films. It isn’t a complete success, but it works more than it should and will hold viewers rapt the whole time. Its mere existence is audacious and it deserves acclaim for that alone. Luckily it’s also really, really good. ★★★★