Movie Scene: Emilia Perez is a film worth sticking with

As Storm Éowyn chose to rip through this locality at the tail end of last week and into the weekend, thus shutting the cinema, this week’s review ‘Emilia Perez’ comes from the streaming world, available now on Netflix. The film is also the current owner of 13 Oscar nominations having been lavished with an awards buzz for months.

Set in Mexico, but actually filmed entirely in France, ‘Emilia Perez’ sees downtrodden, unappreciated lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana) kidnapped off the streets one night and brought to the lair of feared cartel boss Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofia Gascon).

Manitas has an unusual request; tired of a life of crime ‘he’ wishes to become ‘she’ and wants Rita to, not only find a place which will perform the surgery but also sanctuary for Mantias’s wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and kids who believe him dead.

Four years later, Manitas (now Emilia) tracks Rita down and, once again, asks for her help to get the family back.

Directed by French maverick Jaques Audiard, ‘Emilia Perez’ is an audacious, fever dream piece of filmmaking. Part crime drama, part family drama, part musical, Audiard’s film has lofty ambitions and, while it doesn’t fully achieve them all, it’s not bad.

Weaving themes of identity, love, redemption – the film is also a searing indictment of the vice grip drug cartels have on a population ripped asunder by crime, and the outcomes of that.

For about the first 40 minutes, I found ‘Emilia Perez’ nothing special, a few songs strewn here and there but that’s about it. However, once Emilia gets her family back to Mexico, it does pick up as Emilia wrestles with her search for identity and guilt of her past life, eventually setting up a commission to help identify Mexico’s ‘disappeared.’

This allows the script, co-written by Thomas Bidegain and Audiard, to add depth and makes both Emilia’s and Rita’s journey more interesting to watch. If you can get past the first 40 minutes the screenplay does reward the viewer and Audiard’s direction, straddling the different genres, is deftly-handled.

In terms of performances, both Gascon and Saldana are the stand outs, both ladies scoring Oscar nominations. It may be Gascon’s story but, for me, its Saldana’s film and she puts in a fearless performance; the best thing she’s done in years. Gascon, in her first role, does a fine job portraying her character’s complexities in a nuanced way whilst Gomez proves to be an adept actress away from the comedic shenanigans at the Arconia.