Emilia Pérez wants a perfect body, she wants a perfect soul
Jacques Audiard’s divisive trans musical may not be entirely cohesive or coherent, but at least it’s always audacious.
Photo: Netflix
Nearly six months after it premiered at Cannes—where it was awarded the Jury Prize and Best Actress for its central ensemble—Emilia Pérez will surely continue to fuel divisive discourse upon its Netflix streaming premiere. French director Jacques Audiard steps far outside of his personal purview to tell the predominantly Spanish-language tale of a feared Mexican cartel boss who secretly undergoes extensive gender-affirming surgery to become a woman. If the plot itself wasn’t daring enough, the film’s regular musical numbers cement its audaciously melodramatic leanings, executed with wholehearted commitment (and varying results) by its woman-led cast. Though its thematic threads are never woven into salient social commentary, there is a perverse pleasure to be had with Emilia Pérez, even if its positions on gender, sexuality, and broader Mexican society lack proper nuance.
Emilia Pérez opens with listless lawyer Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña) musing—via song and dance, of course—about the innate corruption of her role within Mexico’s patriarchal judicial system. When a shady offer arrives via a cryptic phone call, Rita figures that she has nothing to lose by simply fielding it, particularly because it promises an immense payout. This brings her face to face with Manitas Del Monte (standout Karla Sofía Gascón), a ruthless drug lord with the body count to back up his notorious reputation. Manitas gruffly explains to Rita that she’s been scouted to research, and eventually hire, the best surgeon possible for a gender reassignment operation. Once she agrees to the terms, she flies across the world to meet with top doctors and tour their facilities (set to a Busby Berkeley-esque showtune about vaginoplasty) that will help Manitas transition to Emilia Pérez.
But before this transformation can take place, Manitas’ wrath must claim one more life: his own. Staging this death is easy enough, but relocating Manitas’ grieving widow Jessi (Selena Gomez) and two young children proves the biggest hurdle to Emilia’s emancipation. Though the cartel leader had been undergoing hormone therapy for two years before hiring Rita, the family was seemingly never aware of the patriarch’s gender dysphoria. After Rita escorts the bereaving family to their new estate in Switzerland—far from potential rival gang members who hope to enact revenge now that Manitas cannot protect them—she is told by Emilia that her contract has been fulfilled, and the copious wealth she was promised is now hers to enjoy.