Movie · 2024 · Drama, Thriller · 2h 12m · R · French
Curator score: 0.5/10 (716K ratings)
Passion has a new name.
Overview
Rita, an underrated lawyer working for a large law firm more interested in getting criminals out of jail than bringing them to justice, is hired by the leader of a criminal organization.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.5/10
IMDb: 5.3/10
Letterboxd: 2.01/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Metacritic: 70
TMDB: 6.5/10
Director
Jacques Audiard
Production
Why Not Productions, Pathé, France 2 Cinéma, Page 114, Saint Laurent Productions, Saint Laurent
Cast
Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Edgar Ramírez, Mark Ivanir, Eduardo Aladro, Emiliano Hasan, Gaël Murguia-Fur, Tirso Pietriga, Xiomara Ahumada Quito, Magali Brito, Jarib dit Javier Zagoya Montiel, Sébastien Fruit, Alejandra Reyes, Anabel Lopez, Daniel Velasco-Acosta, James Gerard, Braulio Gómez Bernal, Stéphane Ly-Cuong
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
An ambitious crime-musical with a striking premise, but the execution is too uneven: tonal whiplash, thin character work, and widely criticized handling of trans identity and Mexican culture overwhelm its strengths. Even viewers open to bold formal swings may find the songs, performances, and storytelling more provocative than satisfying.
Best for
Viewers curious about high-profile cinematic misfires
People who enjoy audacious, genre-bending experiments
Fans of glossy crime melodrama who don’t mind camp
Viewers interested in controversial awards-season conversation pieces
Skip if
You want emotionally grounded representation
You’re sensitive to cultural appropriation or identity politics handled clumsily
You need strong songs and a coherent musical structure
You prefer crime dramas with tight plotting and tonal consistency
Overview
Emilia Pérez is the kind of movie that arrives with a huge premise and an even bigger sense of self-importance, then spends much of its runtime proving that ambition alone is not enough. It wants to be a crime saga, a musical, a redemption story, and a social provocation all at once, but the pieces rarely lock together into something emotionally convincing.
Worth noting
There are flashes of visual flair and a few committed performances, especially from Zoe Saldaña, but the film’s tonal instability is hard to ignore. The songs are divisive at best, and the script often feels like it is announcing its themes rather than dramatizing them.
Bottom line
The biggest problem is that the movie’s treatment of trans identity and Mexican life feels reductive and externally imagined, which turns its boldness into something more alienating than daring. For viewers who like messy, polarizing cinema, it may still be worth a curiosity watch; for most audiences, it is easier to admire the attempt than to recommend the result.
Top Letterboxd reviews
James (Schaffrillas) (1.5★) · 40957 likes
Impressive! A musical with zero (0) good songs!
If Selena Gomez gets nominated for an Oscar for this performance I am keying the Academy's cars
comrade_yui (0.5★) · 24949 likes
so alienated from the experience of lived trans identity that it gets many basic facts wrong, stuff that any trans person could tell you about (for one thing, emilia pérez wouldn't 'smell like a man' if she was on HRT, as hormones have a massive effect on body odor). but even disregarding that, this is yet another crash-esque panorama of trying to tackle every societal problem and then acting as if the mere effort of that attempt, rather than the… more so alienated from the experience of lived trans identity that it gets many basic facts wrong, stuff that any trans person could tell you about (for one thing, emilia pérez wouldn't 'smell like a man' if she was on HRT, as hormones have a massive effect on body odor). but even disregarding that, this is yet another crash-esque panorama of trying to tackle every societal problem and then acting as if the mere effort of that attempt, rather than the… more
David Mitchell-Baker (2★) · 17055 likes
Like if Ryan Murphy tried to make a Pedro Almodóvar film.
theo (3★) · 12878 likes
if aliens ever came to earth this is the first movie i’d show them to make them leave
robzyz (1★) · 10214 likes
i'm sorry Madame Web, perhaps i treated you too harshly...