VIFF 2024 | 'Emilia Pérez' Finds A Musical Crime Odyssey

"I want a new skin."

Vancouver International Film Festival

VIFF 2024—No one can accuse Emilia Pérez, French filmmaker Jacques Audiard's Spanish-language transgender musical crime thriller based on his opera libretto of the same name and loosely adapted from Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute, of not taking bold risks. His film collects different genres, from its Mexican gangster setup to some telenovela melodrama crisscrossing with a surreal queer family tragedy and full-on choreographed musical odyssey, for mostly triumphant results thanks to its talented female lead cast that commits to the strange tone.

Starring Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Selena Gomez as a trio of women in trouble, a workaholic defense lawyer representing Mexican criminals, her eponymous drug cartel crime lord client turned missing persons advocate, and Emilia's bitter ex-wife struggling to adjust to a new life, Audiard dials up the pulp and emotions to exploit his characters' feelings for maximum expression. There are more than a few intentional laughs at certain musical transitions, but it's clear what Emilia Pérez is doing.

There's a strong flamboyancy to the brazen ridiculousness of the film's premise about a villain going through gender-affirming surgery in secret, faking her own death, and reappearing years later to foolishly try to reunite with her estranged family while turning over a new leaf from a life of crime and violence. Everyone knows this and the film embraces the high drama through song and dance to create a vibrant Mexican opera of identity and new skins.

While Emilia Pérez intentionally lacks any real psychological complexity its characters would surely have to suffer through to make the irrational decisions they take, it's an entirely entertaining and gaudy fever dream of a depiction of desire and fulfillment from its three central female characters. Saldaña, Gascón, and Gomez are sensational in their portrayals of desperation among the privileged class in Mexico City.

Emilia Pérez screened as the closing film of the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations series at the Vancouver Playhouse. It also screens exclusively at The Park Theatre starting November 1st and will be available to stream on Netflix on November 13th.


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