We enter the musical world of the corrupt and self-aware immoral ethics of Jacque Audiards’ Emilia Pérez. We are introduced to the fact that there are no binaries in Jacques Audiards’ world. You can sympathise with drug overloads because both of you have gender dysphoria and familial attachment in common. And you kinda don’t know if you want to side with a lawyer who has let an abuser get away, who did it to just pay her bills. Safe to say I enjoyed the film;
Capitalism & Patriarchy Strike Again
I know, capitalism and patriarchy suck and not ever have the luxury to live outside it and not face consequences. And I mean real consequences. Right at the beginning we’re introduced to Rita–an underappreciated, overworked lawyer who brilliantly solves cases for her boss. Exploiting every loophole and at the same time exposing how PR’s delusional stunts end up working.
And then, she’s abducted by a drug lord. If this was not a film, Rita’s curiosity would’ve 98% had her killed–but it’s okay, the drug lord was just a girl seeking help from a talented lawyer who sometimes does shady things (girl power).
I knew of the praise and popularity this film has received since its premiere at Cannes, and have expressed our love and appreciation for Karla Sofia Gascon when she won the best actress award. But what I did not pay attention to was the director behind it. So you can only imagine my surprise and suspicion when I realised it’s a French man.
How did he get this right?
––it’s not hard to get cultural references and nuances right if you’re being respectful. We make it sound like a big and impossible deed, but if anything every acclaimed film made and released this year has been an international production. Be it Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light or Konstantin Bojanov’s The Shameless. All of them have directors, producers, writers and actors from different countries. What did all of them have in common? The vision to make it work and do the work!
As I was reading other reviews of this film, I came across Screen Daily’s interview with Jacques, where he explains how he got the details and nuances right. One was that he kept asking Karla what works and what doesn’t work for her character. And second as he puts it, “Mexico has the same problem faced by three or four countries in Latin America — the collapse of democracy, the invasion of narco trafficking.” But he adds, “We shouldn’t be too smug in France, either.”
Which is of course hilarious but also shows how seriously he takes his work as a storyteller.
The Rare Beauty In Darkness
People have had polarising opinions on the subject and portrayal of the subjects in the film, you ask me where I lean and I’ll say––I do like it. I like that it doesn’t try to be right, it just tries to be honest about a different transgender experience. One that involves lying, mafia and 1 wife and 2 children.
It’s hard to like Selena Gomez’s Jessi at first, that’s how convincing she is. When Gomez first appeared on the screen, I was worried that I’ll remain too aware of her star presence, but she doesn’t let that last. She blends into the world where she’s convinced of her life. And I haven’t seen Gomez’s acting since her work in Spring Breakers and I still pretty much associate her as a teen acting icon.
Zoe Saldaña, another major star, who personified her character–Rita’s curiosity and bravery to a whole new level. You can see when she’s anxious but never once doubts her step to help Karla’s Emilia.
Not Friends But Allies
And my words would fail to describe Karla’s acting. Emilia pre-transition scared me, she was intimidating. But you see it even post transition–she’s vulnerable but her eyes will have you sat if she commands you to. She’s had a change of heart, but she can’t ever shake how she behaves.
We see glimpses of her past life every time she’s protective of her family and Rita. We understand that there’s a reason why her gang was supportive of their boss transitioning. Why they respected and wanted to help her.
We see it when Rita also starts respecting Emilia, pre-transition when she’s roaming the world to find the best and most comfortable routes of transition and immigration for Emilia. She’s scared, yes, but you know she’s determined to make it happen. Partly because of the money Emilia pays her, sure that’s the not-so-wholesome part of the film that makes you realise that every act of allyship may not be noble.
What kept me invested in the film was not the actors or even the songs, which were very fun and absurd. But what kept me interested was to see a fresh queer perspective, done creatively and something that isn’t too sad or too happy. It’s in the middle, it’s the perfect balance of binaries of morality, gender and expectations.
