Rita Mora Castro, an underappreciated lawyer in Mexico, writes the defense for a murder case involving a prominent media figure's wife, going against her conscience to argue the death as a suicide ("El alegato"). After winning the case, Rita receives an anonymous call with a mysterious but lucrative offer. Reflecting on her discontent, Rita agrees to a meeting ("Todo y nada"). The client, revealed to be cartel kingpin Juan "Manitas" Del Monte, expresses desire to covertly undergo gender-affirming surgery, beginning a new and authentic life ("El encuentro").
After meeting with doctors in Bangkok ("La vaginoplastia") and Tel Aviv ("Lady"), Rita finds a surgeon who agrees to perform the procedure after hearing Manitas' recollections of gender dysphoria during childhood ("Deseo"). Following the procedure, Manitas' children and wife, Jessi, are relocated to Switzerland for their safety; Rita receives an exorbitant sum of money, while Manitas stages a fake death and begins a new life as Emilia Pérez.
Four years later in London, Rita encounters Emilia, who wants to reunite with her children ("Por casualidad"). Rita brings Jessi and the children back to Mexico City to live with Emilia, introducing her as a distant cousin of Manitas who has volunteered to help raise the children. Jessi does not recognize Emilia and opposes the arrangement, ultimately only agreeing to return to Mexico to reunite with Gustavo Brun, a past lover with whom she had an affair during the later years of her marriage ("Bienvenida").
Adjusting to their new life in Mexico, Rita and Emilia have a chance encounter with the mother of a missing child, which causes Emilia to reflect on her criminal past ("Mis siete hermanos y yo"). Emilia later puts her son to bed, and he confesses he still recognizes her scent ("Papá"). Remorseful, Emilia utilizes her connections with incarcerated cartel members to create a nonprofit that identifies the bodies of cartel victims ("Para"). Rita and Emilia collaborate in growing the nonprofit and recruiting donors, some of which, Rita points out, are dangerous and corrupt ("El mal"). Epifanía, a woman whose abusive husband's remains were identified by the nonprofit, meets with Emilia to confirm his death, and the two later begin a relationship ("El amor").
Meanwhile, Jessi continues rekindling her relationship with Gustavo ("Mi camino") and reveals to Emilia that the two plan to marry and move the family to a new home. When Emilia refers to the children as "mine" and becomes physically aggressive, Jessi flees with the children. After Emilia cuts off Jessi's allowance and threatens Gustavo into leaving Mexico, Jessi and Gustavo kidnap Emilia and demand ransom from Rita. Arriving at the designated location, Rita attempts to negotiate with Gustavo, but a shootout ensues with the security team that Rita has employed and brought to rescue Emilia. Emilia finally reveals her true identity to Jessi by recounting intimate details of their first meeting and their wedding day ("Perdóname"). Gustavo and a confused Jessi load Emilia into the trunk and drive off, but as Jessi slowly comes to realize what has happened, she becomes guilt-ridden and orders Gustavo to pull over, holding him at gunpoint. As the two struggle for the gun, the car veers off the road, killing Gustavo, Jessi, and Emilia.
Rita tearfully informs Jessi's children of what has happened and offers to be their guardian. Epifanía marches in the street singing Emilia's eulogy and celebrating her fight for truth and freedom ("Las damas que pasan").
Composers Clément Ducol and Camille Dalmais at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
In January 2022, Télérama released a five-episode program covering in detail Audiard's pre-production process.[12] Audiard developed the screenplay from what was originally intended to be an opera libretto in four acts.[13] The title character was inspired by a chapter from Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute.[14]Emilia Pérez marks the first time Audiard has written a film alone. Previous co-writer Thomas Bidegain serves as a creative collaborator.[15]
Clément Ducol composed the original score, while French singer Camille wrote the original songs, with the assistance of a Mexican translator, and performed on the demo.[14] Damien Jalet choreographed the musical sequences.[13]Anthony Vaccarello, of fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, created the costumes.[16]
Filming
Production was initially to begin in autumn 2022 but was delayed six months due to varying scheduling conflicts with the cast members.[6][17] It was originally set to take place on location in Mexico but was moved to a studio near Paris instead, in accordance with Audiard's wishes.[6] The interior scenes included a reconstruction of an "authentic Mexican backdrop".[15] Audiard stated that the studio setting would afford him the ability to "produce more form" and give him "more freedom for the parts that are sung and choreographed."[13]
The film is produced by Pascal Caucheteux through his company Why Not Productions, and also by Audiard and Valérie Schermann through their company Page 114;[15] in co-production with Pathé, France 2 Cinéma, and Vaccarello's Saint Laurent Productions, a division of Yves Saint Laurent.[16]
The soundtrack album features the film's original songs performed by cast members Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofia Gascón, Selena Gomez, Mark Ivanir, Adriana Paz and others, as well as the original score composed by Clément Ducol and Camille. The soundtrack was first released digitally on 31 October 2024 by Sony Masterworks.[21] An EP featuring a selection of five songs from the soundtrack–"El Alegato", "Para", "Papá", "El Mal" and "Las Damas que Pasan"–was released earlier on 5 September 2024.[22]
Shortly after its premiere, Netflix beat out multiple studios and was in negotiations to acquire distribution rights to the film for North America and the United Kingdom for $12 million; the deal ultimately closed at $8 million instead.[26][27][28] The film was theatrically released in France on 21 August 2024 by Pathé.[29] World sales for international distribution were handled by The Veterans.[6]
The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada on 1 November, before debuting on Netflix on 13 November in the US, UK, and Canada.[34]
Reception
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Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 76% of 213 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Karla Sofía Gascón is Emilia Perez in a swaggering musical crime thriller of genre-bending fascination that is also an unapologetically trans story."[35]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[36] On AlloCiné, the film received an average rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 38 reviews from French critics.[37]
Kevin Maher from The Times rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, stating "this mad musical is one of the year's best films."[38]
British film magazine Sight and Sound included the film in its 50 Best movies of 2024 list.[39] American director John Waters placed the film in his Top 10 list of the best movies of 2024.[40]
The film is included in TIME's Top 10 list of the best movies of 2024.[41]
Director Denis Villeneuve named the film as one of his favorite movies of 2024.[42]
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