Emilia Pérez

Whatever its failings are as a musical, Emilia Perez makes up for it as a tragic melodrama.

Rather than enhancing the film’s narrative, the music functions as a loud and gimmicky distraction from storytelling that can’t be bothered to do even the most basic work of connecting its audience to its setting and characters.

It’s cheesy and loopy and fun to watch but I think its Oscar buzz is a bit over the top.

Phrases like “game-changer” and “cutting-edge” can’t capture just how audacious and original Emilia Pérez is. It's a knockout.


On paper, the story sounds like a mashup of Dog Day Afternoon, Sicario, M Butterfly, and Mrs. Doubfire, which really should not work. The fact that it does, is a testament to the audacity of the production and Karla Sofía Gascón.

Audiard has created Emilia to startle and divert, but it’s Gascón’s performance that centers and grounds the story, and it’s the actress who finally gives the movie real stakes. She is its heart and soul both.

Risky and unconventional, yet exotic and clumsy, “Emilia Pérez” encapsulates director Jacques Audiard’s authorial vision and showcases it at its worst. A disgrace.[Full review in Spanish]

The peaks and valleys in Jacques Audiard’s latest film, the musical “Emilia Pérez” never come where you might expect them.

While I enjoyed Zoe Saldaña's performance, there's a problem with representation in this film about Mexico, that isn't written or directed by someone who seems to know little about the country.

It is as if Audiard didn’t want to really deal with the messiness inherent in a protagonist as brutal and cruel as the one he gives us here, so he dresses the film up with distracting aesthetic flourishes and florid musical numbers.