“Emilia Perez” is quickly becoming an awards favorite, earning four wins at the Golden Globes And 13 Oscar nominations – plus The SAG Awards nod, too.
The massive Spanish-language opera musical defies easy categorization, as Carla star Sofia Gascón admitted in an interview with Netflix. Tudum blog in January.
“You have an action movie that's not an action movie, a drama that's not a drama, a comedy that's not a comedy,” she said.
In this gritty film, Gascón plays a dual role: first, Juan “Manitas” Del Monte, the leader of a murderous Mexican gang who dreams of living openly as a woman.
A cartel kingpin hires lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) to help her fake her own death and secretly receive gender-affirming help—and finally, her new, authentic self, Emilia Perez, is born.
However, Emilia cannot completely escape her violent origins, and when her wife Jessie (Selena Gomez) returns to the scene, past and present tragically collide.
Some critics and directors are raving about the Spanish-language musical by French director Jacques Audiard. Diversity called the film “dazzling” and fellow director Michael Mann calling it “a modern masterpiece.”
However, many viewers criticized the Netflix film for its lack of cultural authenticity and its portrayal of transgender people.
Transgender representation
LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD in harsh criticism on his websitecalled the film a “deeply retrograde portrayal of a trans woman” and “a step backwards for trans representation.”
“Emilia Perez recycles trans stereotypes, tropes and tropes from the not-so-distant past,” the November post reads.
Some critics argue that the film perpetuates harmful trans stereotypes and the idea that coming of age is a form of deception.
“The main character's transition is seen as a duplicitous and dishonest act of manipulation through which she continues her selfish attempts to control those she has abandoned,” Mattie Lucas wrote in a November review for the magazine. Trans | Zendenthal Cinema. “Not only is her transition portrayed as a disguise to evade authorities, it is an act of ongoing selfishness that ultimately destroys not only her own life, but the lives of those she loves.”
Film critic Juan Barquin called the film “a regressive picture masquerading as progressive” and criticized the film's portrayal of masculinity and femininity.
“Every time Emilia 'returns' to her 'old ways,' Gascón lowers his vocal register, as if equating masculinity with evil and femininity with good,” Barken wrote for Little White Lies Magazine.
Some critics and viewers, including Barkin, also took issue with one line from the film in which Emilia describes herself as “half man, half woman.”
Some transgender commentators offered counterpoints and defended the film's portrayal of the transgender protagonist.
Journalist and critic May Rood, who is transgender, rejected the argument that Emilia uses a “male voice” when angry.
“She’s just a low-key woman, and when she’s angry, it shows,” Rood wrote in the magazine article. Out Magazine.
Rood also argues that the film does not rely on “harmful trans tropes about trans women cheating or lying.”
“Emilia is not a liar because she is transgender, she is a liar because she is a bad person and in many ways she is scared,” Rood wrote. “The film shows that if you live a lie, whether you are transgender or not, your lies will catch up with you.”
Transgender writer Julie River argues in favor of Out Front Magazine that Emilia is delicately portrayed as a “morally complex” character who makes a “desperate attempt to atone for her sins in her former life.”
River also claims that Emilia is hiding her transition not because the film portrays transgender people as two-faced, but because, as a cartel leader, Emilia “was unlikely to be surrounded by people who would find it easy to come out or who would likely accept her transition “
River added: “I may be part of the minority in the LGBTQ+ community doing this, but I will applaud every award I win.”
Gascón herself spoke out against people calling her character “Emilia Perez” transphobic.
“Some people say, 'I want LGBTQ or trans characters to transcend what people do in real life,' but we do bad things too… I don't understand the criticism about portraying Emilia Perez in that way. “, she said Vanity Fair in January. “The reality is that the trans experience is not the same for everyone—my trans experience is different from others.”
“If you don’t like it, go make your own movie,” Gascón also said. “Go out and create the representation you want for your community.”
Cultural authenticity
Some have questioned why the film was not filmed in Mexico, despite being set there, and why there are no Mexican main characters. According to Hollywood ReporterMost of the film was shot on a sound stage in Paris, with the exception of five days of location shooting in Mexico.
Others criticized the language skills of Gomez, who speaks little Spanish, and questioned why the film was directed by Audiard, who is French and, as he confirmed, New York Timesdoesn't speak Spanish.
Audiard also came under criticism after revealing that he did not explore Mexico much while filming the film.
“How much did you have to study Mexico to make this film?” the interviewer asked him the clip is gaining momentum on social networks.
“I didn’t study much,” Audiard said through a translator, according to an NBC News translation. “I knew what I needed to understand,” he says in French.
On January 5, “Emilia Perez” won four Golden Globes, including two awards for best picture in the musical/comedy and non-English language categories, sparking controversy online.
“A Frenchman who speaks neither Spanish nor English wins an award from France for a film in Spanish, filmed in Mexico, but filmed in France, about the leader of a Mexican cartel,” Mexican-American journalist Thomas Mier wrote on X the day after the Golden Globes.
Mexican actor and singer Mauricio Martinez also criticized Audiard for his lack of research into Mexico for the film and criticized the film. post X for “portraying a Mexico full of stereotypes, ignorance (and) lack of respect.”
Film critic Ana Iribe also expressed dissatisfaction with the film's lack of research and its depiction of violence in Mexico.
“It is the lack of information that makes him insensitive: we don’t want a white French director to depict the violence that we have to face every day,” she wrote on X. “I don’t mind foreign artists making films about other countries as long as they have good research, and EMILIA PEREZ didn’t have that.”
Although Emilia Perez is set in Mexico, the main characters in the film are not from Mexico.
Carla Sofia Gascón, who plays Emilia, is from Spain; Zoe Saldaña, who plays Rita, is from the United States and is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent; and Selena Gomez from the USA with Mexican and Italian roots.
With one notable exception, supporting actress Adriana Paz, who plays Emilia's love interest Epifania, is from Mexico.
Paz defended the film in an interview with the publication IndiWire.
“I've heard people say it's insulting to Mexico. I really want to know why because I didn't feel that way. And I asked some people that I trust, not only as artists but as people, but they don’t see it that way, so I’m trying to understand,” Paz said, adding that she considers the film’s director a “genius.” »
In November casting director Carla Hoole said during SAG-AFTRA The group said that it and its team “conducted an extensive search” for actors throughout Mexico, the United States, Spain and “all of Latin America” but did not find a single Mexican actor suitable for the lead roles.
“We wanted it to be really authentic, but at the end of the day, the best actors to embody these characters are the ones right here,” she said, pointing to Gascón, Gomez and Saldana in a panel next to her. “So we had to figure out how to achieve authenticity … through accents, and they didn’t have to be native Mexican.”
