There is no doubting the audacity of Jaques Audiard’s new film in terms of form and content. Emilia Pérez follows a disillusioned lawyer, Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña), as she is kidnapped and then recruited by Mexican drug lord Manitas Del Monte to assist with their gender confirmation surgery. Rita is tasked with finding a surgeon, faking Manitas’ death, establishing a new life for their children and wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) in Switzerland, and creating a new identity so that they may become the titular Emilia Pérez. Oh, and on top of this, the film is also a musical which blends gritty cartel warfare, fantastical sequences, and wrought personal melodrama, all packaged within a deliberately naturalistic aesthetic. It is a head-spinning array of elements, and plaudits must be handed out to Audiard and his cast for taking on something so ambitious.
Their risk-taking also shows initial promise, as seen in the film’s opening number which features Saldana bemoaning her career defending criminals. It feels wholly unique and surges with organic and primal energy as though the music were rising naturally from the very fabric of the film. However, Audiard struggles to hit this note again as the musical numbers quickly rub uncomfortably against Emilia Pérez’s heavier and more realistic moments. In his attempt to marry two such vastly competing tones, Audiard fails to deliver on either. The musical numbers tend to feel muted to suit their surroundings while simultaneously managing to undercut the film’s overall heft. They also fail to delve into the inner lives of the characters performing them or to add any thematic richness to the film. In short, it is hard to see what being a musical adds to the film beyond acting as something of a gimmick.
There are exceptions to this in two punchy numbers performed by Gomez and Saldaña respectively. However, they also get to the nub of some other major issues with the film. The first sees Gomez stomp her way through a far too brief sequence, expressing her character’s frustration at the control she lacks over her life. This takes place because, after many years, Emilia decides she wants her family back, and so poses as Manitas’ long-lost sister and re-hires Rosa to move them from Switzerland back to Mexico. There is something quite insidious about this dynamic, and the way Emilia dominates and downright manipulates her family displays worrying holdovers from her cartel times, which the film never succeeds in reconciling. The film equally fails to reconcile the hurt Emilia inflicted as a cartel leader and the extent to which she still benefits from her ill-gotten gains. Instead, the film largely absolves her of any guilt when she starts an NGO to help find people who have gone missing at the hands of the very criminal networks she helped foster. This leads to a pugnacious solo number, set during a fundraising gala for Emilia’s NGO, as Saldana’s Rosa clambers over tables and rages uninhibited at the crooked politicians and criminals in attendance. However, beyond this, the film scarcely broaches the topic again.
Despite its potential, and some glimmers of brilliance here and there, Emilia Pérez fails to execute upon its revolutionary promise. It is a film which deserves praise for its willingness to take risks, but leaves a lacklustre aftertaste.
Emilia Perez is in Cinemas now and on Netflix 13th November