Emilia Perez

Emilia Perez
Starring Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz
Directed by Jacques Audiard

Oftentimes movies take the safe route, offering a simple beginning, middle and end that makes sense, that doesn't roam outside the norm, and more generally people dislike it because of that. Audiences clamor for uniqueness, for something different than the norm. In that respect, "Emilia Perez" fits the bill entirely - although it's based off a novel, it's still got an original story to tell in a way you wouldn't expect. Musicals have a defining subgenre all its own, but one that's a rock opera featuring a drug cartel kingpin wishing to transition to a woman? You don't get more unique than that, and the result is an often positive film that has some odd choices, but perhaps that's the point of it.

Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldana) is a lawyer in Mexico City who defends the guilty and feels terrible when they get off, and wishes for a new line of work. She gets call to meet a mysterious man for an offer, and she ends up meeting drug cartel kingpin Manitas del Monte (Karla Sofia Gascon) with an offer - find a doctor that will perform gender-affirming surgery on Manitas and Rita will be set for life. Rita agrees to help Manitas, and manages to find a doctor that transitions him to a woman, calling himself Emilia Perez (Karla Sofia Gascon). Rita takes Manitas's wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their two sons and moves them to Switzerland to keep them safe, and fakes Manitas's death so he can live his life as Emilia.

Four years later, Emilia tracks down Rita and asks her to bring his family back to him, under the guise of Emilia being Manitas's distant cousin. Emilia enjoys being reunited with her sons, but is horrified to learn of the mass deaths occurring in Mexico due to the cartels, and joins with Rita to form an organization that helps find missing people. However, in doing so, Emilia and Rita find themselves in danger of cartels who don't want their dark deeds coming to light.

"Emilia Perez" is a fascinating film that focuses on gender dysphoria and how it affects the most unlikely of people - namely a powerful drug cartel leader who's feared by many and who's committed numerous atrocities. You'd never expect a man like him wanting a gender reassignment, but that's what this movie focuses on, and the impact it has on him after he completes it. Now able to live the life she wants to live, Emilia sets out to right the wrongs she committed in the past, and try to get a new chance with her family, even if she has to do it as a distant cousin rather than their father.

This is done by the impeccable talent of Karla Sofia Gascon, who was once a Mexican actor by the name of Juan Carlos Gascon who underwent gender affirming surgery because he struggled his whole life with gender dysphoria, and was able to become the woman he always wanted to be. Gascon plays both Manitas and Emilia in the film and does so with intensity, gravitas, and passion - you feel the actress's longing for her life in the film, and it shows in Emilia's character.

Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez also give fascinating performances all their own, with Saldana leading the charge as Rita, who changes her life once she helps Manitas transition to Emilia, and proving to herself that she has more to offer than help guilty people evade justice, and you can sense her character transformation throughout - plus she has the most dazzling musical moments in the film. Gomez elevates her once innocent appeal and tackles a hard-hitting character with Jessi, a demanding, powerful drug kingpin wife who more than holds her own against any situation.

The film is unique in many ways, once of which is the movie's location. It mostly takes place in Mexico City with the characters often speaking Spanish, but not all the time, as they relegate to English sometimes, and the director is French, which makes it all the more internationally appealing. The music is sung in Spanish and features some great choreography, but my main issue with it is that I had to read the subtitles to get what's being sung and I missed out on the choreography before I went back and watched it for that.

Offering a unique story told through a very different way, "Emilia Perez" is like taking a drink of many random ingredients put together, not liking it at first, but coming back for another drink once you realized you grew accustomed to the taste.

The Score: A