- Release year: 2024
- Director: Jacques Audiard.
- Producers: Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux, Valérie Shermann and Anthony Vaccarello.
- Screenplay by: Jacques Audiard.
- Cinematography by: Paul Guilhaume.
- Music by: Camille and Clément Ducol.
Synopsis: a lawyer gets hired to help the boss of a cartel change gender and stage their death.
Shotgun Commentary: the last film you’d think of as a musical, yet somehow it works.
Review
Emilia Pérez has managed to be the most random musical of the year. Even with Joker: Folie á deux (2024) in the competition. Fortunately, instead of forgettable musical inserts that do pretty much nothing but stall the story, this piece uses music to bring insight into the character’s mindset and conflicts, thus presenting you with their personalities and struggles in a fun, creative way.
A unique story
The feature follows Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña). She is a lawyer who gets tangled in a web of lies woven by a cartel boss: Manitas del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), who is actually a transwoman who wants to live the life that feels right to her.
To do that, she needs to go through several gender affirmation surgeries that will make her physically a woman. In addition to leaving her family behind by faking Manitas’ death in order to become Emilia Pérez, of course. Rita is off the hook once that whole operation has been successfully finalised. However, soon Emilia begins to miss her children, which leads to a whole new mess and an unlikely redemption story.
Daring musical numbers
The story is sprinkled with musical numbers, some more fortunate than others. In fact, only two of the many musical bits feel a bit off. The first is the one that takes place during the introduction of Manitas. This might be an incredibly backwards way of thinking, but talking monotonously over a heartbeat-ish sound should not be considered a song. It looks, quite frankly, ridiculous, and more importantly, it makes it really hard to understand what is being said.
As for the other one, “Mi Camino” feels more like an excuse to give Selena Gomez a musical number rather than a necessary song. The lyrics tells you nothing new. Plus, the visuals are equal parts an average pop music video and a reminder of why you should only enjoy karaokes while under the influence.
Aside from these two unfortunate moments, all the other tracks are quite catchy, intense, and fun. Zoe Saldaña flaunts her dancing abilities as well as her singing voice. You even watch her rap in songs like “El Mal”, if you can recover from the shock long enough to actually register what is going on, that is. All the choreographies are beautiful, and the themes get better with every passing minute of footage. From corruption to vaginoplasties, there is no thematic censorship, making this musical truly unforgettable.
Showstoppers everywhere
As expected from any reputable musical, the cinematography and mise en scène are carefully designed to make the most of each moment and bring as much gravity as possible to each song. There is one very special moment where the lights and colour palettes change drastically for a few minutes and back to their original configuration afterwards, following Rita’s reaction to a big shock and her recovery.
The whole footage is designed and edited similarly, utilising camera movements to signify distress and urgency, close-ups to prioritise details, fashion and lights to highlight certain aspects of a song, etc.
All in all, Emilia Pérez is one of the most original musical of the last few years. It strays away from traditional themes, choosing to focus on relevant societal issues with special emphasis in México, but applicable to the whole world. It doesn’t use metaphors as many musicals do, instead, it follows a clear, straightforward narrative where even the songs leave no space for misinterpretations. Undoubtedly, its originality makes the feature a must-watch of 2024.
Advice to take from this movie:
- You can make songs about ANYTHING.
- Zoe Saldaña in a musical is everything.
- Not all musicals need a professional singer. Not that Gomez’s performance is bad per se.
What’s your take? Have you watched Emilia Pérez? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀