Emilia Perez It’s a musical, a thriller, a soap opera and a story of redemption through theory queer. The story of a boss of the Mexican cartel who one day decides to break with his bloody life to be what he always wanted to be, a woman, provoked the first ovations and the general surprise of the critics’ screening in the first weekend of the festival. Cannes. Directed by Frenchman Jacques Audiard—winner of the Palme d’Or in 2015 for Dheepan—, Emilia Perez He is constantly on the edge, even bordering on the ridiculous at times, but his electric shock, his daring, his self-confidence and his fantasy are contagious and, on the back of songs, neon lights and crazy passions, he ends up coming out strongly.
With Emilia Perez, Jacques Audiard once again demonstrates his creative audacity by exploring crazy terrain on paper with enviable pulse and inventiveness. The script is signed by him, together with his regular writer, Thomas Bidegain, and Léa Mysius (The five devils, 2022). Bidegain has been Audiard’s right-hand man in a prophet (2009), Of rust and bone (2012) and The Sister Brothers (2018), three of his best films. All of them, imaginative and different. In the embryo of his new work, the idea of breaking the barriers of the genre in the wildest, marginal, sexist and border landscape possible. The central story of Emilia Perez It is that of the boss Manitas, a man who, by crossing the border of gender, also crosses that of violence. That is, the experience trans as a path to empathy and a second moral chance.
The spectacular start of this musical does not let up: Zoe Saldaña acts as the master of ceremonies, the common thread, in the role of a criminal lawyer fed up with a corrupt system that covers up femicides and ignores her professional ambition. Saldaña sings and dances with vigor, and her character takes the viewer by the hand. In the background, Emilia Perez It moves away from the postmodern musical to move in the codes of an operetta in which the dialogues are hummed. Among the musical numbers there is everything: some karaoke and a lot autotune. The first sequence is a choreography to the rhythm of the street life of Mexico City in which a chorus of passers-by sells and buys everything. Along with a very brief number with firearms, it is one of the best parts of the film.
The other main performers are the actress trans Spanish Karla Sofía Gascón, American Selena Gómez and Venezuelan Edgar Ramírez. Gómez’s work is the most lackluster and her character, Jessica, wife of the boss Manitas, has a major problem: her Spanish is not understood, she is too hard-working and poorly worked. Karla Sofía Gascón, on the other hand, dedicates herself to her task with truth, humor, and a powerful presence. She also stars in wonderful moments, like when her little daughter discovers that she smells like her father.
Emilia Perez is produced by the French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, which this year has three films in the official section—in addition to Audiard’s musical, The Shrouds, by David Cronenberg, and Parthenope, by Paolo Sorrentino. Since Anthony Vaccarello came in as creative director, he has set out to turn the house into an ambitious film company. Among the rest of the producers are the Dardenne brothers, another strange mix of this film whose powerful artillery could place it close to the winners’ list next Saturday, awards that are increasingly focused on the promotion of French cinema that, in the last 10 years, have achieved four Palme d’Ors compared to the five he obtained in the previous half century.
Perhaps because the day was about transformations and musicals, the other film in the official section was Feng Liu Yi Dai (Caught by the Tides), a mysterious and fascinating journey over two decades with countless songs, textures, sounds and layers of a country in constant movement: China. The new film by filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke (Golden Lion in Venice in 2006 for Still life) it is a wonderful collage of documentary filming, interspersed with some more or less veiled notes on the current socio-political situation of his country, and a sometimes imperceptible fiction that, in the form of road movie, shows a silent woman traveling through her country while searching for an old friend or lover.
These unstoppable changes in the life of his country are the core of Jia Zhang-Ke’s cinema, which, through his panoramic views, reveals to the viewer dazzling and enigmatic corners of China. Feng Liu Yi Dai It is the portrait of a giant in constant mutation that Jia Zhang-Ke shows in an erratic and circular way, a round trip starring this woman who sometimes works as a singer and other times as a model. The director follows in the footsteps of this character who is not new in his filmography, to which he returns through materials from his other films, and who is played by his wife, actress Zhao Tao. The film is a great visual puzzle, wonderful and non-stop.
All the culture that goes with you awaits you here.
Babelia
The literary news analyzed by the best critics in our weekly newsletter
RECEIVE IT
_
