At least that is the bizarre, clumsy message of Emilia Pérez, the all-singing, all-dancing, Golden Globe-winning, Bafta-nominated, Oscar-baiting musical about a lawyer who engineers the disappearance and transition of a cartel boss and which features a number titled “La Vaginoplastia” set in a Bangkok gender reconstruction clinic that must have Rodgers and Hammerstein turning in their graves.
Emilia Pérez is an insult – to musicals, Mexicans, the trans community, and to the viewing public who generally consider films as a form of entertainment, rather than punishment. It trivialises cartel violence, delivers an apologist message for drug traffickers through its clumsy redemption narrative for an evil killer (antiheroes can be humanised – but good luck finding that kind of depth here).
Karla Sofia Gascón and Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez (Photo: Shanna Besson/WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS/FRANCE2 Cinema)
It is also controversial. It perpetuates harmful stereotypes about Mexico, was filmed in France, Audiard has admitted no attempt to engage with Mexican culture and its casting director has faced backlash in Mexico by claiming the reason none of its central actors are Mexican is because there simply weren’t any good enough. In the case of Gomez and Saldaña, they don’t even speak good Spanish.
I’m all for big swings in cinema – and I’m thrilled when some outside bet or story about an overlooked community gets recognised with a Best Picture win – look at Moonlight, or Everything Everywhere All at Once, deserving, original, but above all, human.
Unfortunately, it is like a bad, boring telenovela that took me far too long to realise I was supposed to take seriously. Indeed, it is hard to feel that its “representation” of minority communities, identity politics and Mexican culture aren’t merely part of a cynical attempt to win praise and plaudits from liberal Hollywood at a time these issues are most weaponised by Trump.
The Oscars are trying to make up for past mistakes - but it isn't working
Read MoreAmong them, period post-war epic The Brutalist is the frontrunner, papal thriller Conclave a critic and crowd favourite, Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan flick A Complete Unknown the obligatory biopic, Anora the totally brilliant indie outsider about a sex worker who marries a young oligarch, and of course, Wicked.
They are all more traditional choices than a musical about a transgender crime lord but, for once, I hope the Academy plays it safe and recognises something other than this virtue-signalling, offensive bilge.
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