Bruno🎄’s review published on Letterboxd:
“To listen is to accept.”
Probably the most divided I’ve been towards a film this year, I truly wanted to dig this and call it one of the best of the year but after watching it and being disappointed after every other scene I’m now on here writing about how I’m saddened by not only how incoherent this is but just by how audacious it tries to be and ends up feeling messy in all fronts. Emilia Pérez is French director Jacques Audiard trying something new, a musical that includes a visceral amount of genre and that results in something that’s too big for its own good, there’s a lot to tackle here, we’ve got Mexican cartel wars, kidnapping, melodrama nonsense, the life of a recently transitioned person, plenty of musical numbers and so much more. This might sound crazy but for its runtime it simply is too much and it bites off more than it can chew, I’m baffled.
“My pussy still hurts when I think of you…”
That’s right, you’re reading that correctly. I was scratching my head countless times trying to understand why this was written like this, it gets worse in certain musical scenes where the writing of these songs is pure torture like that penis to vagina song we’ve been hearing across the timeline. I’m not qualified enough to talk about the trans topics this film brings up but I can tell when something seems transphobic and this indeed feel like that at times. Not only that but there’s an unreasonable amount of questions to be answered in here that I’m still not sure what’s going on, our titular character changes from a mass murdering cartel male leader into a beloved god-like woman that helps those very same people she left to die and we’re supposed to root for her? Is this a redemption story about someone I can’t sympathize with for obvious reasons? What is this really? It leaves me with more questions than answers.
“So, does your client have a name?”
Emilia Pérez has its great moments that I enjoyed at times, mainly the second act of the film, that includes a great deal of musical numbers that I’d say I was a fan of but the rest of the film makes you question, did this really have to a musical? The third act completely shifts negatively and that ending is one to be talked about, it’s kind of regressive and our character doesn’t learn any lessons or even have an arc. This is also to say that the performances carry the film on their backs, mainly Saldaña and Gascón, they’re terrific and shine on screen especially Zoe, we really get to see her acting chops in here and she delivers probably a career best performance. Selena Gomez isn’t as good as people were making her out to be but I do think she shines at times. The film does have great technical aspects to it, the cinematography is good enough and the score is interesting but that doesn’t elevate this rather shallow and hollow plot. However, I’m saying all of this just to see it get nominated for countless Oscars and win Best Picture.
2024 RANKED
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