Golden Globes 2025: “Emilia Perez”, by Jacques Audiard, is “the big favorite” with ten nominations

Favorite of the Golden Globes, will “Emilia Perez” complete its transformation into the big winner? This is the whole point of the ceremony on Sunday for Jacques Audiard’s musical odyssey on the gender transition of a Mexican drug trafficker.

Record nominations

The French filmmaker’s film has 10 nominations, notably in the category of best comedy, best director, best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón in the title role, best supporting actress for Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, and best screenplay.

With a record number of nominations for a musical, this award-winning film at Cannes, with the jury prize, but also an overall female performance prize, and broadcast by Netflix, “is the big favorite, by far”, recalls to AFP Pete Hammond, from the specialist site Deadline.

Filmed mainly in Spanish, the feature film also competes in the categories of best international film, best soundtrack, and best song – two nominations. Its harvest will give an indication of its potential for the Oscars in March.

According to Hammond, his main competitor for the best comedy prize remains the Cannes Palme d’Or “Anora”, where Sean Baker chronicles the setbacks of a young prostitute from Brooklyn, portrayed as a modern Cinderella.

Holiday commercial hit, “Wicked” appears “disadvantaged”, with only four nominations. But its star Cynthia Erivo, who plays the witch from “The Wizard of Oz” opposite singer Ariana Grande in this adaptation of a Broadway musical, could steal the show from the transgender actress in Audiard’s film Karla Sofía Gascon. “She is so spectacular in this film, (…) the way she sings while she flies through the air,” insists Pete Hammond.

Another French “outsider” film

Another French film, “The Substance” also plays the “outsiders”, notes the columnist. This horrific fable by Coralie Fargeat, where Demi Moore plays a former Hollywood glory addicted to a youth serum, has five nominations, notably in the categories of best comedy, best direction and best actress. A macabre tale about the dictates of eternal youth, the film “will resonate in Hollywood,” believes Hammond.

“They are more open to different genres of films”

Still marked by the vast scandal revealed in 2021 on the ethical failings, racism and corruption of their members, the Golden Globes have largely reformed in recent years. In particular, they added more than 200 members from the four corners of the globe to their jury.

Brody, Fiennes, Chalamet…

A change which is felt in the nominations, according to Pete Hammond. The ceremony is “less predictable” and “definitely more international.” They are more open to different genres of films.” The drama categories, traditionally separated from comedies by the Golden Globes, also reflect this evolution.

The Canadian film “The Brutalist,” a portrait of a Holocaust survivor architect trying to rebuild his life in the United States, received seven nominations. Its director, Brady Corbet, won the Silver Lion for best director in Venice. The feature film is aiming for the best dramatic film prize, but will notably have to get rid of the papal thriller “Conclave”, nominated in six categories. The stars of both films, Adrien Brody and Ralph Fiennes – brilliant as a cardinal embroiled in the Vatican’s shenanigans to elect a new pope – face off for the title of best actor in a drama film. A race in which Timothée Chalamet could be invited, for his remarkable incarnation of Bob Dylan in “A Perfect Stranger”.

Kidman, Jolie, Winslet… Fierce competition among actresses

But this year, it is on the fate of actresses that the Golden Globes are most likely to weigh, three days before the close of voting for Oscar nominations. Already fierce on the comedy side, the competition is just as fierce on the drama side.

“This is where the Golden Globes can really help”

Angelina Jolie shines with her interpretation of the singer Maria Callas in “Maria”, Nicole Kidman impresses as a woman of power with troubled sexuality in “Babygirl”, and Fernanda Torres moves as a widow devoted to her children under the Brazilian dictatorship of the 70s, in “I’m Still Here”. Without forgetting Kate Winslet, who lends her features to the war photographer “Lee Miller”, or Pamela Anderson, surprising as a revue dancer overtaken by age in “The Last Showgirl”.

The Oscars, which do not separate dramas from comedies, will only select five actresses. “The best actress category is so crowded that some people who would have surely won in another year won’t even be nominated,” observes Pete Hammond. “That’s where the Golden Globes can really help,” he adds.