by Elisa Giudici
How does Jacques Audiard do it? Emilia Pérez would be an extraordinary film if it were directed by a 35-year-old filmmaker who had just matured and created a groundbreaking movie destined to consecrate his career. Yet Audiard is 72 years old, already has a Palme d'Or at home, and a portfolio of excellent films. He doesn't need to reinvent himself or take many risks, having reached an age and fame where some simply coast along, continuing to indulge their existing obsessions.
Instead, Audiard delivers a film that, on paper, should be disastrous and unworkable...
Trust that he finds a way to make it succeed, culminating in a phenomenal second act. Emilia Pérez is the first great film of this edition. Remarkably, it's spoken in Spanish and filmed far from home, tackling delicate issues of gender and politics that might seem "foreign" to its creator.
The most intriguing question is: where did this film come from? After much thought, it seems rooted in Audiard's longstanding fascination (since Oscar nominated A Prophet) with characters who have a criminal and/or violent past but strive to reinvent themselves, creating a new identity. The bold choice in this film—which will undoubtedly attract criticism—is to parallel the transition process of a trans woman with this quest for a new identity. Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) was a drug trafficker who never felt right in her biological body, but by severing ties with her old self, she found a way to build a life where she could enjoy the fruits of her illicit past.
EMILIA PÉREZ © Shanna Besson
I appreciate the continuous alternation between moments of commentary and ironic jabs at the protagonist's past like the daughter telling "Aunt Emilia" that she smells like her dad, who smelled of coke... cola. Also of note is the superb direction of the musical numbers. Yes, among many other things, this film is also a musical with a score by Clément Ducol and songs by Camille.
Finally you have to marvel that all of the characters in this film are objectionable people. Emilia Pérez opens with Zoe Saldana singing the defense argument for a client accused of beating his wife. Immediately after, she is kidnapped by the film's other protagonist, who asks her to arrange the secret surgical chapter of her transition. Even when Emilia changes and tries to do good, the money she uses and her approach betray her origins and her overbearing, manipulative ways. The same goes for the ex-wife Jessi (Selena Gomez); it can truly be said that she and Emilia deserve each other. In a cinematic moment where representation often needs to be automatically positive to be embraced, one can only admire Audiard's brazen and iconoclastic approach.