by Charles Kirkland Jr.
When a Mexican cartel leader makes an offer you can’t refuse, the results are staggering in the musical
crime drama Emilia Pérez.
Rita Moro Castro is a Mexico City defense attorney whose brilliant strategies have kept many murderous
but wildly affluent clients out of jail. Her reputation draws the attention of Manitas Del Monte, a
notorious Mexican cartel kingpin. He hires Rita to arrange an itinerary of under-the-table procedures
with the world’s best surgeons to disappear, while making a plan for the wife and kids he’s
leaving behind. The process is a success, Manitas’ murder is staged and Manitas is no more. While in
hiding Manita’s new identity affords the ability to create a whole new life, the past begins to creep
back, threatening to undo everything they have worked so hard to achieve.
Emilia Pérez is a musical crime drama written and directed by Jacques Audiard based upon an opera he
wrote loosely adapted from the novel Écoute written by Boris Razon. The movie stars Zoe
Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir and Édgar Ramírez.
To call Emilia Pérez a musical is a bit of a challenge. It is not the traditional musical like Hamilton or The
Music Man. It is less musical than Les Misérables which contained acting interspersed occasionally with
songs. In this film, there are a lot fewer occasions. There are moments in the film where musical pieces
are performed but the film does not rely upon music as its driving force. Clément Ducol composes an
intricate and intriguing original score for the film. French singer Camille wrote the original songs, with
the assistance of a Mexican translator. As well-composed as the music is, it is just an interesting
insertion to a complex story that has a life of its own. The singing is almost totally abandoned by the
third act.
Without giving too much away, the plot of the film is about a Mexican cartel leader who wants to make
a significant change in his life. Once he makes the change, he comes to miss some of the things that he
left behind by making the change and creates more drama by trying to recapture those things. It is the
nature of the change that is the substance of the film.
The acting performances in the film are fantastic and fearless featuring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez,
Adriana Paz, and the amazing Karla Sofía Gascón, an ensemble that collectively received the Best Actress
award at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Selena Gomez is particularly subtle and yet powerful in her
supporting role. Gomez, a Hispanic-American, confessed that this film was her first opportunity to act
using the Spanish language.
Set in a violent, male-centric society, Emilia Pérez is a fantastic gender-affirming, female-positive,
Spanish language, crime drama, gangster movie with singing. It may seem to be a lot, but Director
Audiard juggles all these elements expertly and crafts a film that is so outside the nearly flawless box. At its heart, Emilia Pérez is a cautionary tale about both trying to have your cake and eat it and
about being truthful and honest about who you are.
Grade: A
Emilia Pérez will be released in theaters on November 1 and will be available for streaming on Netflix on
November 13, 2024.