One of the wildest and unpredictable dramas of the year, Emilia Pérez is a highly entertaining piece of filmmaking–but your mileage will vary based on a multitude of factors.
To set the stage, both my girlfriend and I went into this Netflix prestige film all but blind: I knew it was a serious Oscar contender and that Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez were in it, but that’s about it. Did we know that it was a Spanish-language film? No. Did we have any inkling of a sense that it was a musical? No. Could we have guessed the big plot hook that would send Emilia Pérez on its strange–arguably meandering–journey? Absolutely not.
The less you know about Emilia Pérez the better, as long as you’re open to the unexpected and, from what I hear, no personal connection to some of the themes at play.
I’m not a huge fan of musicals, but I appreciate good musical numbers when I see them: Emilia Pérez has several of them. In fact, the film is overflowing with them. While not every musical sequence stands out, writer/director Jacques Audiard gifts his audience with some incredibly powerful songs and the visual display to bring them to life. As a musical, Emilia Pérez is creative, energetic, bold, and varied.
Saldaña is absolutely terrific in the lead role, delivering yet another award-worthy performance with a challenging role that pushes her in new directions. I had no idea she could sing or dance, but let’s just say… I do now.
Karla Sofía Gascón, who gets top billing, is very good as well, though her character is an incredibly tough one to pull off–and arguably Audiard does not entirely give her the material to pull it off. Emilia is a profoundly complex character for more reasons than one, and while Audiard writes her well scene by scene, the foundations of the character and her journey feel like something better suited for a telenovela than an Oscar-contending drama.
Others may say the way her character is portrayed has more egregious faults, but I’ll leave it to other critics to dissect those.
Despite its issues, there is no denying that Emilia Pérez is a highly entertaining and wild experience. From its mesmerizing musical numbers to its ever-shifting plot, Emilia Pérez rarely lets up. Further, at any given moment it’s hard to envision what will happen next–a rarity in this day and age. It’s often an exhilarating experience, even if it’s not what you may expect.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.
