For months, I have had a certain date circled in my calendar: November 13. “E-Day.” The day Emilia Pérez hits Netflix. On Wednesday, I’ll be sitting here like the Michael Jackson popcorn GIF as Jacques Audiard’s musical, a film that until now existed only in the cloistered world of prestige cinema, is instantly thrust in front of millions of streaming subscribers. Most of them will be entirely unprepared for what they’re about to watch — how will they react?
So far, Vulture has written three major stories about Emilia Pérez. The first called it “an unbelievably audacious film that feels like if Pedro Almodóvar remade Mrs. Doubtfire.” The second called it “a cross between Mrs. Doubtfire and Sicario reimagined as a musical.” The third did not mention Mrs. Doubtfire but did call it a “genre-melding noir musical.” Suffice it to say, normal language is insufficient to encapsulate the Emilia Pérez experience. Briefly, it’s the story of a Mexican lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) hired to facilitate a cartel leader’s (Karla Sofia Gascón) secret transition, who then, years later, assists her in reconnecting with her old family, while the two of them form a nonprofit aiding families of those who’ve been “disappeared” in the drug conflict. There’s also a romantic subplot between Selena Gomez, who plays the cartel leader’s wife, and Édgar Ramírez, as a guy who wears tank tops. And, again, it’s a musical!
Emilia Pérez was rapturously received at Cannes, where four of its female cast members shared the Best Actress prize. It then came second in TIFF People’s Choice voting — beating Anora! — thus proving the musical’s appeal was not limited to French people and jet-lagged journalists. It’s Netflix’s biggest priority this season, and pundits expect it to be a major player. By current odds, it’s the early front-runner in Supporting Actress, for Saldaña, and International Film, where it’s the French submission. If nominated in Best Actress, Gascón will make history as the first out trans actor nominated for an Oscar.
But before that, Emilia Pérez will have to run the gauntlet of actual moviegoers, many of whom are freshly traumatized by Donald Trump’s reelection and could respond in ways we can’t even imagine. My colleague Jason P. Frank, who watched the film in a more normal setting, called it a classic “festival movie,” the kind of big, wild swing that shakes up viewers accustomed to seeing three or four films a day, but doesn’t always translate to everyday experience. (Other examples of this kind of movie include Titane and The Substance, so maybe the word we’re looking for is just “French.”)
As you’ve probably gathered, the film’s plot is a minefield of hot-button issues, told with the sensitivity you can expect from French septuagenarians. To name just one example: After an opening act filled with lurid cartel violence, Emilia Pérez gives us a comic number about gender-reassignment surgery. This sequence went over well at my tastemaker screening, where Jeremy O. Harris laughed uproariously through the whole bit, but it will undoubtedly hit different when clipped and posted out of context for thousands of people who have never heard of this movie before.
This is a recipe for chaos. There’s a world where the Netflix audience is as moved by the film as festivalgoers were, or one where viewers embrace the camp the same way they did with May December last year. There’s a world where the festival fairy dust wears off, the film underperforms with awards voters, and Emilia Pérez becomes a byword for Netflix’s misplaced largesse. And then there’s perhaps the most likely scenario, in which the film wins as many awards as pundits predict it will, but in the process becomes this season’s official Oscar villain.
The first stirrings of a backlash are already here. Last month the CBC published a blog post declaring Emilia Pérez “a messy, insensitive, often baffling movie” and quoting a critic who dubbed it a “deeply evil monstrosity.” Those arguments have been repeated by a small but growing number of online detractors. They’re calling it the worst thing a Frenchman has done in Mexico since Napoleon III!
There will be much to discuss about the film’s handling of trans issues. (I enjoyed Harron Walker unpacking the film’s assumption that, despite the title character’s crimes, the audience will “celebrate her solely for the fact of her transition.”) I’ll briefly note the haters are correct that the movie doesn’t have much to say about the lived experience of trans people. Emilia Pérez is not really about the trans experience, in part because Emilia Pérez is not “about” anything other than Emilia Pérez. This is a movie that exists in its own strange world. I can’t wait to see what happens when others come visit.
Oscar Futures: The Election Is Over. Now What?
Every week between now and January 17, when the nominations for the Academy Awards are announced, Vulture will consult its crystal ball to determine the changing fortunes in this year’s Oscars race. In our “Oscar Futures” column, we’ll let you in on insider gossip, parse brand-new developments, and track industry buzz to figure out who’s up, who’s down, and who’s currently leading the race for a coveted Oscar nomination.
