The Cinema Boy’s review published on Letterboxd:
A haunting and truly unforgettable cinematic masterpiece even if I have some criticism, “Emilia Pérez” is a sensational, truly bold and unbelievably unique cinematic gem. I haven’t had an experience in the cinema quite like it before. I watched this picture at my local indie arthouse movie theater today and it arrives on Netflix at the time of this writing this Wednesday for everyone to watch at their convenience from home. The movie is spellbinding and haunting and provocative and original and unlike anything else out this year or in recent years. It is a mixture of so many genres and languages and universally feels like a piece of art for the collective that shines brightly. It feels lived in as a world and a piece and a character study and like a place to revisit on rewatches with material that is indelible after only one viewing and lingers on. I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that I think that audiences are going to be mixed to negative on this picture with all that praise being established up front from me. This is a movie that you have to meet where it is and you have to bring something of yourself to it to connect to it. Some people won’t be willing to do that and they will dismiss the picture accordingly and judge it and mock it. Emilia Pérez is a bombastic and earnest musical. I come from the theater and as a performer I have the templates of narrative musical structure in storytelling in my very bones. This movie felt like coming home and discovering a brand new Broadway sensation in real time; something that will join the echelon of other powerfully rendered musicals before it. For a certain audience this picture is going to repulse. The film is about controversial subject matters to many in the right echo chamber of American cult personality culture presently in society and those individuals will disengage and minimize the picture solely based on the fact that it explores the truth of a soul wanting to have a sex change and it highlights that souls experience longing to be seen and to feel whole in their body. This isn’t a storyline that some people will allow to breathe and they will mock this movie endlessly. When audiences turn away from the art and they minimize and dismiss, the messages and the modalities are lost. The discernment is missing in their daily lives and they are limited. Emilia Pérez is a picture and a piece of art that expands the mind, body and soul. This picture is a treasure to the human experience and to the collective struggle of being alive. It’s not only a powerful meditation on the perils of a corrupt and moral less world but the acknowledgement that with money and power comes a universal longing to find peace and truth within oneself; everything the picture speaks to feels honest and intellectually rendered, compellingly so. The narrative in a literal sense is overzealously rendered and soap opera like but the musical score accompanying it is so vivacious and intentionally broad by design that an operatic, sensual and grand scale production is something to behold overall and it becomes clear was the intention all along. The movie isn’t flawless, it’s on the surface renderings are somewhat cliche and formulaic even with the bravado and gusto and craft in its favor, but this is truly a minor critique in a genre (musicals) that is known for grand scale on the nose storytelling beats in general to explore an overall thesis or musing impact fully. When some of the experience doesn’t work for the audience that doesn’t mean this isn’t authentically vibrating and solid, some people don’t have the legwork and the knowing to what this film even is going for to begin with, they don’t like musicals or know musical theater history either, the Netflix audience will be so broad that many will be clueless as to what this films desires were to begin with as it’s an aforementioned extremely uniquely rendered experience. They will hate on it but it won’t deserve the criticism. This movie slaps. This movie is a foreign language grand scale operatic cinematic mastery on film. I didn’t even know that would be a thing to be showcased in cinema that I would want and enjoy; the bold swing and the success of it is thrilling to behold here. Zoe Saldana is fantastic as Rita, a woman who is hard to discern as only being one thing and who comes into herself and her life through the act of helping birth Emilia Pérez into full formation for Manitas. There is a subtle and deft craftsmanship on display in the execution of the story and the growth and evolution of Rita as a character slowly and organically throughout that I admired and enjoyed watching. I also loved seeing Saldana perform in song and dance. All her musical numbers were great. Karla Sofía Gascón is incredible as the titular Emilia Pérez and also as Manitas, her former self before the transition is completed. The work is truly magnificent and awards attention is assured for both performers. I can’t see a world where these performances aren’t honored. It would be major snubs if that happens to me. And the same goes for Selena Gomez, giving one of the best performances of the year in this movie, assuredly to be nominated if not win many awards in supporting actress, the global pop star sensation and it girl Disney child actress of yesteryear, must now be acknowledged first and foremost as a premiere thespian/actor, period. She is phenomenal in this performance as the character of Jessi and I can’t emphasize enough how good the work is overall. She is a true movie star. I think her character is maybe my favorite in the entire movie and I really feel like she has multiple unforgettable moments on camera in this role. Adriana Paz has a beautiful singing voice and also brings an elegance and powerful simplicity and common yet graceful essence to the proceedings. Here is some trivia on the picture: Jacques Audiard said he became inspired for the idea of the musical from a chapter in a novel about a drug trafficker who yearns to change his identity. Jacques Audiard's first Spanish-language film. Just like her character in the film, Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón is also a trans woman in real life. This is the first film she starred in as an actress after announcing her transition in 2018. Before that, she had a long career as a male actor. While promoting Emilia Pérez, Selena Gomez said in several interviews that she's not fluent in Spanish and did not feel happy about her Spanish in this film. For their performances in the film, the female cast shared the Best Actress Award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and Karla Sofía Gascón became the first trans actor to win an acting prize at Cannes. The film received a 9-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the second-longest standing ovation for a Jacques Audiard film at Cannes after Rust and Bone (2012), which received a 10-minute standing ovation in 2012. Official submission of France for the 'Best International Feature Film' category of the 97th Academy Awards in 2025; A haunting and already prolific piece of art after only one viewing. This picture leaves an indelible and truly unforgettable impression. 2024 Films Ranked The Best Live Action Musicals Ever The Cinema Boy’s Favorite Films
