The title of “Emilia Pérez” is not a good person. His lawyer, Rita (Zoe Saldaña), thinks that she can become one, accepting to facilitate the transition of genre of a notorious partly because “the change of body changes the soul / the change of the soul changes Society / The evolution of society changes everything ”. (“Emilia Pérez” is a musical, so these lines are delivered in song.) But the story that has completely followed Rita’s thesis; Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) herself may think that she has changed inside as well as outside, throwing herself into a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the victims of the very organizations that she has led, but it quickly yields to its worst pulses. When Emilia threatens violence against her ex-wife, Jessi (Selena Gomez), who ignores her identity, for having potentially distant their children, this triggers a chain of fatal events that claim Emilia’s life. In the end, Emilia cannot exceed the sins of her past, and she pays the ultimate price for them.
Such moral realism stands out in what is otherwise a proudly fantastic film. In “Emilia Pérez”, a pre-surgical consultation can become a borderline Busby Berkeley number, but a murderer cannot become a saint simply by kissing their identity on a long reception. It is not because Emilia belongs to a persecuted group that she cannot persecute others. It is a more premonitory theme that director Jacques Audiard could have foreseen. A few hours ago, “Emilia Pérez” was a favorite of the Oscars, with 13 appointments at the head and the support of the world’s largest streaming service. Now, it is a edifying story in the dangers of building a warm and vague story around a reality that is much more complicated.
Thursday, social media users discovered – and when writing this article, the messages from Gascón derogating Islam (“deeply disgusting”), George Floyd (“A drug addict”) and a diversified academy ( “A Korean Afro-Festival”). Gascón is currently nominated for the best actress and had already attracted a slight controversy to denigrate the “people working with” Fernanda Torres in an interview. This thrust arises in relation to the current maelstrom, which jeopardizes not only the own campaign of Gascón, but that of the film named after, and therefore inextricable of his character.
Before the messages go up, “Emilia Pérez” had the task of a Netflix redemption tour. The disruptive company, barely more than a decade in the production of original content, has reached almost all the notes of acceptance of the entertainment industry, except the largest: the price of the best film academy . While hopes spent as “Roma” and “The Power of the Dog” are stranded, Apple TV + even beat Netflix in The Punch, becoming the first streaming service to win the first prize with “Coda” in 2022. Having acquired the film in Cannes, where her ensemble shared the price of best actress, “Emilia Perréz” seemed to be the best chance of Netflix to date. To set up it, Netflix has built a strategy around Gascón as a face of the film, subjecting its performance as manager and Saldaña as supporting even if the story is presented from the point of view of Rita and Saldaña has more than screen time. A cover story on Gascón in the Hollywood Reporter underlined his involvement in the creative process, pushing the director Audiard of an initially comical premise to a more sincere exploration of self -discovery.
Until today, this bet seemed to bear fruit. Earlier this month, Gascón accepted the Golden Globe for the best musical or comedy in the name of all production, delivering a “emotional message that” you can never remove our soul, our resistance, our identity ». Gascón never called his audience by his audience, but he was strongly hinted that “our” referred to transgender people, and “you” referred to political movements motivated by fear and hatred of another demonized – Like the movement then a few weeks to take the White House.
It is in the nature of the prizes campaigns to be influenced by factors beyond the artistic merit of the films in the running and to take their own life apart from what they sell. In a perverse manner, the re -election of Donald Trump – who has not lost time to ban federal detainees trans institutions that align with their sex and also try to prohibit transgender army troops – could be considered Like a boon for “Emilia Pérez. “It does not matter that the film itself has warned against the allocation of moral value to someone according to their identity, as opposed to its actions; Netflix could position a vote for their stronger competitor as vote against The current administration, something to feel good in a moment that for many voters and viewers of the Oscars feels extremely bad.
But with Gascón’s messages, this fiction – and all marketing thrusts are, at a certain level, fiction – faced reality. Gascón, a Spanish artist who has transferred to his intermediate career, can be transgender, but it is not a guarantee that it cannot be Islamophobic, racist or none of the other negative impressions given by his declarations. The brewing scandal invites immediate questions about the benefits (will the co-stars of Gascón condemn it? Will they even witness the ceremony in March?) And how we arrived here (someone has He checked his accounts in the eight months that followed the film in Cannes? It also offers lessons in the hypotheses we do, and should probably not, on the inherent virtue of adversity. Again, if you were looking closely “Emilia Pérez”, these lessons have been there from the start.