Crime
Drama
Sex Change, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll: A TIFF Review of ‘Emilia Pérez’
September 26, 2024Ben MK
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Movie musicals have exploded in popularity in recent years. And when you consider just how long the genre has been around, it's recognition that's long overdue. Whether it's classically styled musicals like The Greatest Showman and La La Land, films-turned-stage-musicals-turned-films-again like Mean Girls and The Color Purple, or more offbeat endeavors like Dicks: The Musical, all the world's a stage when it comes to stories told through song. And with Emilia Pérez, that old adage continues to hold true, in writer-director Jacques Audiard's audacious tale of one Mexican crime lord's dramatic transition from being a ruthless drug kingpin to being the queen of her own charitable empire. Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldana) is one of the most successful criminal defense attorneys in Mexico City. However, when she's contacted out of the blue one day by notorious criminal Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón) with an unbelievable proposition, Rita finds the trajectory of her life forever altered. Tasked with finding Manitas a surgeon willing to complete his gender reassignment, Rita stands to make enough money to put her career defending scumbags behind her. But when Manitas — now going by the moniker Emilia Pérez — reaches out to her again four years later in London, Rita comes to the realization that she might not have gotten out as cleanly as she had thought. Asked to help bring Emilia's estranged wife, Jessi (Selena Gomez), and their two children back from Switzerland to Mexico, Rita finds herself pulled back into Emilia's inner circle. But has this former murderer and vicious criminal changed her ways for good? Now the founder of an NGO focused on helping Mexican families find their missing loved ones, Emilia genuinely appears to have turned over a new leaf. Still, while her concern for Jessi and their children may come from the heart of a husband and a father, will Jessi see things the same way? Or will she see Emilia as a threat to her family and the fortune she inherited from Manitas? A strange yet mesmerizing hybrid of underworld crime thriller, domestic drama, and rock-pop musical, the result definitely won't be everyone's bottle of Corona. Nonetheless, thanks to its glossy production design and soap-opera-ish melodrama, it's almost hard to fault Emilia Pérez for being as wildly imaginative and as cinematically ambitious as it is. Either way, moviegoers who approach this movie with an open mind might find themselves pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns that unfold. If you're anticipating a more conventional genre effort, on the other hand, you may want to tune in to an old, familiar favorite instead. |
Emilia Pérez screens under the Special Presentations programme at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Its runtime is 2 hrs. 12 min.
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