By all means, “Emilia Pérez” seems poised to become a record-breaker at the Oscars. Directed by Jacques Audiard, the film tells the story of a cartel boss who enlists the help of a lawyer to medically transition so she can live her true life and atone for her previous crimes. Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the titular Emilia Pérez, has the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Oscar. Furthermore, the film’s 13 Oscar nominations have made it the most nominated film in a non-English language in Academy Award history, the record set by both “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2001) and “Roma” (2018).
Despite these achievements, “Emilia Pérez” has found itself in hot water since the beginning of its Oscars campaign. Critics have generally given the film positive, but not glowing reviews; it currently a 72 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the lowest-rated of this year’s Best Picture nominees. In contrast, the audience rating sits at an abysmal 16 percent. While critics and general audiences tend to disagree over Oscar-nominated movies, a discrepancy of 56 percent reflects “Emilia Perez’s” controversial nature, both in regard to the film itself and its crew.
Karla Sofía Gascón, the film’s lead and the first trans woman to be nominated for Best Actress, has been at the center of the “Emilia Pérez” controversy. In January, journalist Sarah Hagi unearthed tweets that Gascón had posted from 2016 through 2023, expressing Islamophobic, xenophobic, anti-Chinese and anti-Black sentiments. Additionally, Gascón has been accused of violating Oscar rules regarding disparaging remarks about other nominees after an interview where she claimed that Fernanda Torres, another Best Actress nominee for “I’m Still Here,” and her team were speaking badly of her and “Emilia Pérez.”
Gascón has since apologized and deactivated her X account, but her provocative statements have still drastically impacted “Emilia Pérez” on its road to the Academy Awards. She announced earlier this month that she will be withdrawing from the film’s Oscars campaign and did not attend the SAG Awards, where the film had three nominations. Netflix has also removed Gascón from promotional material for the film. However, Gascón has not withdrawn from the Oscars and defended her decision in a CNN interview stating that she “has not committed any crime.”
While much of the coverage of the “Emilia Pérez” drama has revolved around Karla Sofía Gascón, the film’s plot itself has also drawn much criticism. Director Jacques Audiard has come under fire for his portrayal of Mexico that critics say is inaccurate at best and tone-deaf at worst. Despite being set in Mexico and written in Spanish, “Emilia Pérez” was shot entirely in France (though Audiard briefly visit Mexico according to an interview with the BBC) and only one of the four lead actresses, Adriana Paz, is Mexican.
Compared to the positive reception “Emilia Pérez” has received from film awards organizations, Mexican audiences far more mixed things to say. Some were concerned that the film handled the real-world tragedy of cartel violence in a simplistic and disrespectful way. Others pointed out that the Spanish dialogue was awkward and evidently not written or spoken by someone from Mexico. As a review from Latina Media Co. , the neglect of smaller details—such as the structure of the Mexican judicial system and the distinct accent of the area where the film is set—provides viewers with a surface-level depiction of Mexico.
The film has also been lambasted by members of the LGBTQ+ community for how it depicts its transgender main character. Perhaps the most notable scene from “Emilia Pérez” is “La Vaginoplastia,” a musical number where Zoe Saldaña’s character asks a surgeon about how a male-to-female sex change operation works. Similarly to critiques from Mexican viewers, trans reviewers (such as Pink News) to how this song and other parts of the film get basic facts about medical transition wrong as proof of its overall ignorance toward the trans community.
Emilia Pérez as a character has also been called a problematic caricature of trans people, with LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD that the film’s premise of someone changing genders to avoid accountability for their crimes reinforces harmful stereotypes. Writers at queer news outlet Them Emilia’s transition and ensuing redemption arc to movies like “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Rocky Horror,” which also questionably depict their trans characters but do so in an absurd and comedic way while “Emilia Pérez” takes itself completely seriously. Trans Mexican creator Camila Aurora and screenwriter Héctor Guillén even went so far as to a parody of “Emilia Pérez” called “Johanne Sacrebleu,” stereotypical French characters played by Mexican actors and produced entirely in Mexico.
Leading up to the Oscars, the reputation of “Emilia Pérez” precedes it. While I have watched the film and personally believe that many of the criticisms are warranted, I would recommend anyone who’s curious to watch it for themselves and form their own opinion. Regardless of how much the controversy surrounding “Emilia Pérez” impacts the Academy’s votes, the number of debates about the most-nominated film this year should shape up for an interesting Oscars show.
Leyna Summers can be reached at [email protected].
