RobynSummer’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Man to woman. Penis to vagina"-Actual lyrics that someone got paid to write.
*sigh* Where to begin?
I love musicals, and I think they can be an excellent method of storytelling. Watching characters express their emotions through song and dance allows us to connect with them on a deeper level because we're being shown how they feel, rather than just being told. But there are stories where the musical medium doesn't work, and Emilia Perez is one of them. The filmmaking is largely bland and grounded too much in reality, which makes the over-the-top musical numbers feel out of place. The songs are mostly spoken rather than sang, and when we actually get singing, it's awful. It seems this film is going the Les Miserables route by having the songs exist solely as vehicles for emotion rather than something that's actually pleasant to listen to. I could forgive this if the songs helped us connect with the characters, but with a few exceptions, I don't think that they did. I enjoyed Bienvenida and El Mal, but the rest are trash. The songs in a musical should enhance the story, rather than hold it back.
Also, considering this is story that's supposedly about a trans woman, it's telling that we don't get a single song where she expresses her euphoria about finally having the right body. The story doesn't explore her feelings about her identity at all, and after she gets the surgery, we have a time jump where she's fully settled into her new life off-screen. This is because Emilia Perez is not really about a trans woman. It's about a bad person trying to hide from who they are. Pre-transition, Perez was a violent cartel boss who's responsible for countless deaths. She transitions to start a new life (which includes faking her death), and she tries to become a better person. But she also can't let go of her family, and so she Mrs. Doubtfires them by pretending to be someone else in order to still be in their lives. She still tries to control Jessi's choices, and ends up resorting to the same violent tendencies she exhibited pre-transition, which leads to her downfall. The film is saying that changing who you are on the outside does not change the inside, which matches what the doctor said to Rita early on in the "Lady" song. While the film acts like it's supportive of Emilia's transition, the story makes it clear that it isn't. Is it true that transitioning won't fix all of your internal problems? Yes. But this film does not approach this idea with the necessary nuance, which makes it feel transphobic rather than trans-affirming. It shows little interest in her feelings about her identity, and the story frames it as a largely negative thing, so how is it supportive?
I don't think that trans stories shouldn't be told by cis people, because I feel that is a regressive mentality. But if you're as ignorant on trans issues as Jacques Audiard clearly is, then you should steer clear of them. This is going to be an Oscar contender, which is frustrating. But if it's going to be nominated for anything, then I hope it's for the acting, which is very good.
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