Emilia Pérez is this year's most controversial movie. But is it any good?

Emilia Pérez has emerged as not only the buzziest film this awards season, but the most divisive.

The Spanish-language crime drama musical (yep, it's all those things!) is about a Mexican cartel kingpin who enlists lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) to help fake their death so they can transition and live authentically as a woman.

The film stars Karla Sofía Gascón in the titular role, alongside Saldaña and Selena Gomez.

Directed by Jacques Audiard, the movie has drawn huge awards buzz, winning four Golden Globes, including the big one for Best Motion Picture for a Musical or Comedy. It received 11 BAFTA nominations and will be France's entry for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards.

The film first made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize, and prompting the festival's longest standing ovation.

Watch the trailer. Post continues after video.

Despite all this, the reaction to Emilia Pérez from audiences and most critics is at odds with the acclaim. Many absolutely hated the film, and referred to its portrayal of both Mexicans and transgender people as regressive and damaging.

After watching the growing hype and controversy, I felt hesitant about what I was getting into when I finally watched Emilia Pérez, which has only just been released in Australian cinemas despite already being available on Netflix overseas.

Okay, I'll start with the good stuff: namely, Zoe Saldaña.

She is electric in this role, which should have film execs lining the streets to work with her next. We've always known Saldana was a leading lady — she's in the two highest-grossing films of all time, Avatar and Avengers: Endgame — but in Emilia Pérez she is the gravitational force that grounds this film; a film that truly needs grounding.

As Rita, she proves to be a triple threat: not only is she a skilled, nuanced acting talent, she's one of the better singers in this film (spoiler: there are some bad ones) and a gifted dancer.

Zoe Saldaña is a revelation. Image: Saint Laurent Productions.

Those formative years acting in the cult ballet movie Centre Stage (if you know, you know) have worked wonders.

But of course, the movie hinges on Gascón's Emilia. For the most part, she offers a stunning, convicted and delicate portrayal of a misunderstood woman.

The casting of a trans woman to portray her is something worth celebrating, as the movie industry is riddled with examples of cisgender actors portraying these roles.

Some of Emilia's reflections on her gender identity are quite perceptive, as she speaks about how living as a man felt like a "shadow that engulfs her".

Gomez's portrayal of Emilia's ex-partner Jessi is a daunting balance of softness and manic rage that she pulls off with ease.

All in all, the performances are impeccable, as is the art direction, universe-building, and overall aesthetic of this film. Given the movie was made in part by Saint Laurent Productions, it is no surprise that it looks flawless.

Selena Gomez in Emilia Perez. Image: Saint Laurent Productions.

The singing component wasn't quite as weird as expected. Sure, the movie doesn't seem that concerned with hiring professional singers for a lot of it, but there are some redeeming moments.

In particular, Saldana's manic 'El Mal' was mesmerising, as she angrily stomped and swiped her way through a gala benefit dinner while pointing out the hypocrisy of the attendees.

But overall, the songs didn't add much to the script. If anything, some undercut the nuances or the seriousness of what was unfolding, or they were just straight-up bad songs.

One song 'Papá' by Juan Pablo Monterrubio and Gascón, where a young child simply listed all the things Emilia smelt like, felt particularly perfunctory.

There were a lot of parts of this movie that didn't sit right with me. As a character, Emilia felt unfinished and her story often fell back on transgender tropes, both positive and harmful.

Above all, Emilia's story was one of tragedy: born Juan 'Manitas' Del Monte, she was a cartel kingpin who decided to get gender affirmation surgery so she could finally live as her authentic self as a woman.

But to do this, she had to fake her own death, which meant that her wife (Gomez) and two kids were left behind to deal with this trauma. In one scene, Rita tells Emilia that her children will simply 'forget her'.

Emilia Perez is a complicated character. Image: Saint Laurent Productions.

Emilia only reentered their life as the auntie of Manitas, and she struggled with finding her place in the family. Nowhere in the film does she even consider telling her family who she is, instead shipping them off to Switzerland.

It's a tragic fate that doesn't leave any room for trans acceptance or joy: like most stories about the transgender experience on film, this is one that is overwhelmingly grim and marked by self-sacrifice.

Emilia has to trade her past life for a new one — an unrefined view that feels at odds with what trans people actually experience.

In the film, a thread of being 'half this and half that' permeates throughout Emilia's words. This reinforces derogatory language by referring to a transgender person as "half man, half woman."

The scenes to organise the gender affirmation operations are cloaked by secrecy and blackmail, suggesting that being transgender is an act of deception. A moment towards the end of the movie when Emilia's original cartel boss voice comes through only further perpetuates this narrative.

And sadly, there are no other trans perspectives than Emilia's in the movie.

Other than the hospital scene, there are no other trans people in the film, which makes her feel even more alien to the rest of this world.

The script has a shallow understanding of the transition process, with simplistic depictions of hormone effects and surgery.

bc a lot of people don’t seem to know where this clip is from:

this is from Emilia Perez, a French-Mexican musical about a cartel member who troons out. it just won four golden globes.

this is the song about his neo-vagina surgery. pic.twitter.com/jPXpxAcJao

— pagliacci the hated 🌝 (@Slatzism) January 6, 2025

For one, the multiple surgeries are done at the same time to exaggerate the results. The moment when a wheezing Emilia finished her final surgery looked like a horror scene from the reality show The Swan — it was salacious, inauthentic and grotesque.

GLAAD had made it clear from the outset that they don't support this film.

"There is an ongoing challenge with high-profile film festivals programming films about trans people – which are then seen and reviewed by cisgender critics – months before an actual transgender person can even see the film," they wrote.

"Emilia Pérez is a step backward for trans representation."

The overarching issue is that this film is at war with itself and what it's trying to be. Around the halfway point, Emilia Pérez evolves into a very different film, as suddenly the socio-political issues in Mexico are at the forefront.

Just as Emilia might actually have the chance to share what her experience has been like, and the film could deepen our understanding of this unique character, the film reverts to a formulaic story of redemption and morality.

I won't spoil the ending, but the final moments are so self-righteous I couldn't contain my smirk.

There's this bizarre sudden drive from Emilia to be a better person, with the character establishing a charity to locate the types of people she murdered when she was a cartel boss.

Whether intentional or not, it's a dangerous message to send that transgender people want to erase their past actions after they change gender.

"Emilia is trying to repent for the sins she committed in her time as cartel boss," wrote a trans woman in a film review for Pink News. "The issue with this is that transition isn't a moral decision, and the act of transitioning alone doesn't somehow absolve you of your past self. It isn't a death, nor is it a rebirth."

The binary idea of Emilia being caring, nurturing and empathetic, but in her earlier life being cruel, distant and careless, is just another case of perpetuating archaic gender tropes that radiate through this film.

Aside from the deficiencies in the portrayal of trans people, the film also has a lot to answer for regarding its Mexican representation.

Despite the movie being based in Mexico, most of the cast isn't Mexican, with only one Mexican actress (Adriana Paz) in a supporting role. At times, the Spanish dialogue feels inauthentic, with many Mexican viewers saying they feel the film reinforces harmful stereotypes about Mexico.

The film's haphazard blending of the transgender experience of gender affirmation surgery and raising awareness for the victims of drug trafficking in Mexico makes for a disjointed, muddled mess.

It is two different movies competing with each other and by splitting attention, each of these delicate and important subjects is ultimately betrayed. The result is a film that sadly feels rather soulless.

Despite the overblown 132-minute screen time, the film spreads itself so thin across multiple themes that the viewer never feels satisfied.

By the credits, all I could wonder was: who is Emilia Pérez for?

Your guess is as good as mine. But with a slew of predicted Oscars awaiting the movie, I'm not sure the filmmakers need to care.

Feature image: Saint Laurent Productions.